The Devil's Backbone
by valentine999
Summary: A response to Spinkle22's "Reunion" challenge, as well as being a new mission. Rated T for language, IMPLIED lemons etc. BTW- I forgot to say that Lily is from my other fic "White Gold," sorry!
1. ICP and Jack

Hey, I'm back! I've only written 1 AF story (White Gold) but I loved writing it because people said they enjoyed reading it! So I'm writing another one- in response to Spinkle's reunion challenge…as you know because you read the summary… :P

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"Li, someone's here to see you!" Li looked up from her work, lowered her goggles and glowered at her assistant. He stuttered under her stare and pointed a shaking finger to the door, "he said it was urgent." She shook her head; Jack was far too enthusiastic than any assistant lab worker should be. She took off her gloves and threw them onto the worktop, he was too excited to work with her as well; she was pretty enthusiastic but jumping up and down in excitement when the carboxylic acid count was way under what it should be, just annoyed her. She shut down the ICP machine and walked down the corridor, out of the lab. As she did she threw her goggles and lab coat into her box and walked on. She didn't need to have a look to check if it was her box, there were only two; Jack's which was immaculate and hers which looked like a mini war zone between pencils and sticker labels. She walked into the sunlight that poured into her office and saw, sat in _her _chair, was a man; greying hair, dark suit, a briefcase. For a fleeting moment she thought she was being sued.

"Morning." He said in a crisp voice that dripped with regret; he obviously did not like the way she had put her hands on her hips and was now staring at him, willing him to get out of her chair. "Miss Cheong, my name is Brain Adams," he stood and held out his hand, she took it and sat down opposite him.

"This office isn't open to civilians, so if you wouldn't mind-"

"Yes but I'm no ordinary civilian." He said with a smile, she noticed all his teeth were perfect; straight pearls. He reached into his jacket pocket and removed a badge. She glanced at it quickly and immediately knew what it was.

"You're from the MOD?" She said, almost laughing.

"Try being a bit more specific." He said, smiling in return. He meant he wanted her to name the division he was from, which really meant that it was important.

"No," she said slowly, "if you were then you wouldn't come here; you'd invite me somewhere and then we'd talk." She was smart, she knew how things worked, that meant he couldn't mollycoddle her.

"You're right." He said and looked her up and down. She knew exactly what he was doing; assessing her, seeing if she really was as good as they said she was. She was used to it; everyone did this with her seeing as she was such an expert in her field. "Are you happy here?" It was such a strange question that Li was too shocked to answer.

"You what?" She said in surprise.

"Does the term _Alpha Force _ring a bell?" Li sat upright, still, unmoving as though he were about to throw a knife at her. How did he know that term? He laughed at the look on her face, "You think no one would find out in the end? You think your "missions" were that small?" He laughed again. "Ever since you took part in the operation with the SAS to uncover a drugs plan, we've tried to keep a close eye on the five of you." She was too shocked to say anything. "It seems you've drifted apart over the last ten years, when was the last time you saw one another?" He had put his briefcase on the desk in front of her and opened it; taking out files she saw her picture on the front. "Well?" He asked suddenly, making her jump.

"Erm…about six, yeah six years ago." She said quietly, trying to catch a glimpse of what was written on the files he had taken out.

"Li Cheong," he said almost to himself as he took papers out of her file, "oh I see you didn't follow in mummy and daddy's footsteps, became a botanist…unmarried…attempted to become a doctor at one point…application unsuccessful…lives by herself in an apartment overlooking the Thames." He closed the file. "All in all pretty uneventful in comparison to your teen years-"

"What do you want?" She said finally; she always became annoyed when people thought they knew her, words on paper could never describe a human being. That's why her application to do medicine had been unsuccessful.

"I want you to work for us." They stared at each other for a moment before Li started laughing.

"That's crazy. You think I can just leave my job for a while-"

"This is the government; we could make you fake your death and have no one ask questions." He put her file away and leant forwards. "You can't tell me that you don't miss it; what Alpha force did?" She didn't answer.

"I take it you're going to ask the others?" She said quietly and as she looked at him from the corner of her eye she saw him nod.

"Well, you are-"

"What?" She stood up, "I haven't seen them for six years; I have no idea where they are!" She shook her head at him, "why can't you do it-"

"We've lost track of them." He shrugged, "anyway, who could persuade them better than their dear friend Li?" He smirked as she realised she'd probably be better at it than the government.

"But Alex, he must be working for the MOD by now; you must have tabs on him." She speculated, again he shook his head.

"Alex has gone on holiday." He said simply and Li was sure this wasn't a full answer; so what if he was, surely they'd be able to keep contact with him? He saw the look on her face and sighed, "That man knows the ins and outs of us now; how can you watch someone who knows how you work?" He laughed, "came in one day and told us he was taking a month off, _"don't contact me, don't watch me, don't even expect a postcard"_ is what he said and then he was lost to us; couldn't track him anywhere." He laughed.

"So what does Alex do now?" She asked; she'd always expected Alex to join the SAS like his father, become a soldier; that wouldn't involve the need to be watched. The man shook his head.

"You can ask him that when you ask him to go on this mission." The man said.

"And what is this mission?" He smiled at her;

"I'll tell you that when all of you are gathered together." He said. "We'll pay for anything you need; flights, hotels, cars, you name it, we'll give it. Oh," he said as he noticed she was going to speak again, "you'll be paid as soon as you say yes." She thought for a moment. "It'll be seventeen times what you're being paid now." He smirked at her; that was an awful big amount of money. "All you have to say now is _I'll think about it. _I give you this document," he pulled one out of the briefcase, "which explains some hints of where we last saw your friends. Then you phone me as soon as you're ready," he took out a card from the inner pocket of his jacket and gave it to her, "to confirm you're ready to go-"

"What if I say no?" She asked as he stood up to leave.

"I don't think you quite get it," he said sternly and turned to her, "this isn't just about money; this is about getting back to what life once was; travelling with your friends to save the world. Or would you rather be stuck in a Lab all your life, with that over enthusiastic assistant of yours that doesn't know anything more than what's written in those books of yours?" He left her with that thought, with the document in her hand, with the slight glimmer of hope that she could get back to what she used to be.

"Alright Li, I've washed the glassware to start the ICP again!" Jack said, she turned to him without really looking at him. He saw the blank look on her face and his smile faded, "I'll go…set up the machine then." She nodded slowly and as soon as he left she stood up, the document fell from her lap but she didn't hesitate, she reached over her desk to get to her phone and quickly dialled the number.

"Brian Adams office," said a voice on the other end of the line.

"This is Li Cheong. Tell Adams…" she thought for a moment, "Just tell him I accept." She said and put the phone down. That day, for the first time in her life, Li left work early. She had no inclination of saying goodbye to Jack, to the office, to the place she felt she never belonged. She was going to meet Alpha Force, she was going to go on a mission, she was going home.

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Well what do we think of the general idea guys? Are we liking it- I'm thinking in each chapter she'll find someone again…it's all about getting back together really…

Please review! Give me ideas of how you want them to meet up, if there's anything special you have in mind, but I pretty much know where I'm going!


	2. The Red Moon

Hey, did anyone else think Paulo would end up looking like a really rough, better looking version of Diego Luna? Cause I did :D…and you SO needed to know that --

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"_There are at least five suspects linked to the case, each have been isolated from the public and from one other-" _Li turned the TV off. Listening to it was like listening to a parent, its basic message: stay inside, the outside world is unsafe; it's all just sex crimes, drugs and murders. But Li knew better; the "outside world" was a place of beauty and wonderment, she knew because she'd run through it, saved it before, years ago. The people in this city, in London, had no idea what it meant to be alive, living in this world. She shook her head and looked back to the documents open in her lap.

She knew as much information as the government did about her friends now. She found that she'd laughed at discovering some of their information. Picking up her mug of coffee she took a sip and read through the last known location of each of them. It was so typical of them, wanting to be unknown by the authorities, because in the end they had all known this would happen; that someone would want them to work for them. But that's not what they wanted; their missions were usually where they had some control themselves, being an employee meant they had no control. So they split up, lost ties, travelled the world, in hope that they'd be left alone. She picked up the nearest file and knew who she wanted to see first. He wouldn't be too hard to find.

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The heat was overwhelming in this part of the Arizona desert. Not only did it kill your enthusiasm for anything, it made route 66 seem to stretch on for far longer than it really was. Made you stop more then, made you drink more, made you kill time by sleeping. It was so hot in fact that Paulo had at least two fans on him, one above and one beside him. Like he always did when he came to this tavern. He sat back lazily, lounging out amongst the humid chaos, his feet up on the table, a cigarette loosely gripped in his right hand. A bead of sweat ran from underneath his slightly long, messy hair, past his sunglasses, along his rough, unshaven cheeks, down his neck and under his shirt. He looked incredibly rough, like a criminal on the run, like a cracked and chipped diamond. That didn't stop at least three women in the bar glancing over to him every now and then, in vain hope that he would look around. He lay beneath a glowing neon sign that said, "The Red Moon," the name of the dingy tavern he was in. He didn't move, he just sat, absorbed by the heat, by his own charismatic aroma that attracted so many to him. He was so absorbed that he didn't even jump, nor register the fact that someone had thrown something on the table in front of him. Probably another car part that needed fixing, he waited a few moments before dragging his boots off the table, sitting upright, removing his sunglasses and placing his cigarette in his mouth. He muttered something about being disturbed before looking up at his customer. The cigarette fell from his mouth.

"Hello, Paulo." Li said quietly with a smirk. He stood up slowly, taking in the new image of the girl he once knew. Well, it had only been six years but she wasn't a girl anymore. Even though the bar was dimly lit he could see that the _woman _that stood in front of Paul, though still being petite, had more curve than he remembered. Perhaps it was just the fact that she was flaunting them more than she used to; with her tight ¾ jeans and she had tied a knot at the bottom of her shirt to show her midriff. Her angled eyes appraised him with similar surprise; Paulo had gone from a messy teenage boy, to a rough, handsome man. They stared at each other for a little while. "Can I sit with you?" Li said after a moment, Paulo nodded, his mouth suddenly dry. He held his hand up to the barmaid and beckoned her over; he must do that a lot because she knew what to do. She brought over two drinks, what they were Li had no idea but she was thirsty so she didn't care. The pretty barmaid stopped as she was about to leave their table and smiled at them both.

"Last time I saw you look at a woman like that you were pretty heartsick Rico." She winked at him and walked away, still he said nothing, just stared at Li in disbelief.

"How've you been, Rico?" Li asked, smiling slightly at Paulo's discomfort towards what the barmaid said. He grunted a response.

"Good." He said, stubbing out his cigarette on the dirty table in front of him. "How've you been?" He asked, dreading the answer.

"Oh, you mean since you left me waiting for you at the train station six years ago?" She said bitterly.

"You still upset about that?" He said quietly.

"Yeah, kinda." She said quickly, taking a sip of her drink. She immediately regretted it; the liquid was warm and thick, like syrup in her mouth, she swallowed it quickly and didn't touch the drink again.

"Apart from that?" He asked and drained his glass in one. He smirked; Li was sat upright, still, completely unfitting into this place, unlike the rest of the girls here, who swayed unconsciously to the music that hung in the air.

"Fine." She lied.

"How did you find me?" He asked, completely dumbfounded, "I've managed to go undetected for at least three years, I was pretty pleased with myself but now…you turn up." He gestured at her and she smiled mischievously.

"What's with the name Rico anyway; you a criminal now?" She changed the subject quickly, he chewed his bottom lip and decided to overlook it.

"I don't like people around here knowing who I am." He shrugged, "so if you could keep my past off the topic of conversation it would be much appreciated." He leant back as though he'd finished the matter.

"You mean it would be much appreciated so you don't have to talk about what you did-"

"Hey!" Paulo said and took her hand that was lying on the table, "you don't think I regretted it? Everyday you don't think I thought about you-"

"You were always just words to me." She said quietly but he noticed she didn't move her hand away.

"Forget you then!" He said and moved back again, taking his hand off hers. "What about the others; I didn't mean to just, forget you all." He said quietly. "I'm sorry." He ran a hand wearily though his hair.

"Well why don't you tell them that yourself-"

"They're here?" He jumped up in excitement to meet his old friends but looked down to Li who shook her head solemnly. He sat down and waited for her to explain.

"I was approached by a guy named Brain Adams," she waited for him to catch on, her sentence could only mean one thing, he shrugged and she sighed in irritation. "He wants us to work for him." Paulo had lost interest already; he didn't work for anyone involved with a government and he knew that's what she was insinuating. "He's willing to pay just under 750,000." That got his attention. "And judging by the places you hang out," she glanced around the dingy tavern, "I'd say that's an offer you can't refuse." She smiled weekly at him in a way he remembered and found himself smiling, she may have just offended him but she was beautiful when she smiled. And she couldn't help but laugh at his school boy-like grin that he had when evaluating her offer. They sat in silence for a while and in that time Li noticed, as her Alpha Force days had made her good at noticing things, that at least four women kept glancing over to them, she grimaced.

"What're we doing for him?" Paulo asked and Li shrugged.

"No idea; says he'll tell us when we all get together." Paulo thought about what that meant; Alpha force was getting back together, he'd see his old friends again. "It'll be like old times," she added to see his reaction. His face clouded over with reminisce.

"Old times?" He said dreamily, "they're my favourite kind of times." He spoke slightly nonsensical and Li laughed. He finally snapped out of it and looked at her; taking her hand again he looked her in the eye. "If I say _yes_ when do we leave?" She contemplated.

"First thing in the morning; I'm not riding a bike to the airport at night, in the desert." She said slowly.

"We got bikes…as in motorbikes?" He said with loving caress in his voice and she nodded, he gave a low whistle, "I take it Adams is paying for everything?" She nodded again. "We've got to find the others ourselves though?"

"Yep. We'll decide where to go from here in the morning."

"Alright…" his voice trailed away and she could feel the rising excitement in him as the thought of a reunion and a new mission. "So you'll be spending the night in the motel opposite this place?" He asked and she recognised the twinkle in his eye immediately.

"Yeah." She mumbled.

"I'm there too." He said happily, "so really…you'll be spending the night with me?" He winked at her; she shook her head and stood up to leave.

"You'll be lucky," she said and turned away from him.

"Exactly." He said and stood up after her; he smiled as he heard her laughter and walked out of the tavern in her wake. "I don't see no ring on your finger." He said conversationally as they walked through the darkness, across the road. "And judging by the way you keep smiling at me I'm guessing you don't have someone back home do you?" She stopped walking and turned to him, he almost cowered when he saw the look on her face.

"Why don't you just stop?" She said loudly, "our boat sailed a long time ago." She started walking again and did not turn back to him when he shouted out.

"How many times do i have to tell you I'M SORRY!" He yelled but she didn't turn to him again, she walked straight into the building and waved a hand at him to say goodnight. He raised a hand in acknowledgment and swore out loud; they weren't kids anymore, they couldn't tease each other into gaining affection. Well, agreeing to do this meant he had plenty of time to spend with her, to get her to change her mind.

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What's really difficult about this story is staying in character, because they're older they've obviously changed but you have to write not to the extent that they're unrecognisable or easy to dislike…whew this is a difficult task!

_Review appreciated!_


	3. The Stranger and Existentialism

Quick update eh?

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Li sat at the table in the small diner, waiting for Paulo to come back with their drinks. It was twenty minutes past sunrise but neither of them felt like sleeping; they were both too excited about their looming task. Neither of them admitted it but it was the same adrenaline rush they got when starting a mission with Alpha force all those years ago. She jumped as Paulo slammed a drink in front of her, a bottle of cool green liquid that she drank quickly, relishing the cold sensation that went through her. He smiled at her sweetly as he took his seat opposite. Neither of them said anything to each other as they drank, the documents of their friends whereabouts were laid out on the table in front of them but they were lost to know who to go after first.

"you know what that means though right?" Paulo said and Li looked at him wearily.

"What does it mean?" She asked him and he smiled at her again.

"You chose to find me first." She smiled too.

"I chose to find you because you were the most difficult." She snapped, "roaming around the Arizona desert, fixing things for money, it's a pretty lost existence." He nodded, it was true; he was lost to the world. "But because you lead such a mysterious life you were, in a way, the most publicised. I came here, asked around for someone like you and of course, everyone knew the famous Rico; even if they didn't talk about him. Managed to…persuade someone to give me the name of your favourite tavern." She finished her speech and took a deep breath. Paulo smirked; he'd always been there for Li, always protected her in a way that made her seem dependent. But she wasn't anymore, she was by herself and doing fine.

"Well now what-" Paulo stopped talking as Li took out her mobile, she picked it up as it rang.

"Hello?" Paulo saw she looked confused, that must mean she didn't recognise the number.

"This is Brian Adams." A man's voice came on the other end of the line. "I was ringing to find out how you are getting on." He said and Li sighed.

"I've found Paulo." She said, "I'm debating who to go after next."

"Well I also have to tell you that were need you together in the next three days-"

"Three days?!" Li shouted, "that's nuts, if the government has no idea where they are how're we-"

"We have recently gained the _exact _location of Amber Middleton." He paused, waiting for her reaction.

"Amber?" She whispered, trying to recollect her friends face.

"Hmmm…try Boston University." He said slowly, "I'm sure she's there. That leaves you with about two days to find the other two; once you've met up, give me a ring and your mission brief shall be delivered to you." The phone line went dead.

"Well?" Paulo asked as Li put the phone back into her pocket. "What did he say?"

"We have to catch a flight to Boston." Was all she said before getting up to leave the diner.

* * *

"Impersonal verbs have only one conjugation: the third person singular indefinite, or _il_. Some of these verbs also have personal versions with different meanings, so it's important to learn to recognize impersonal verbs." Amber spoke the words as though perfectly memorised, well they were; this was her third lecture on French grammar that morning.

"So the passive impersonal is commonly used in place of the passive voice?" One of her keenest students, Emma Greenly spoke out from the mass of students in front of her. Amber found that she hadn't really been listening but Greenly annoyed her anyway; one of those girls that always tried to be top of the class, but not in a nice, quiet way, in a loud way that made her show off. Amber rubbed her forehead and walked around her stand with her microphone on it.

"Miss Greenly, don't interrupt me when I'm talking." Amber said in a bored voice, that didn't stop her students from smirking at the fact she was annoyed. "Unless you'd rather teach my lectures?" Emma said nothing, just stared open mouthed at her professor. "Well alright then." Amber said and was about to walk back to her post when she saw, outside the lecture theatre doors, the Dean of Students beckoning her frantically to the doors. Amber sighed; what could she possibly want? "OK, everyone I'm cutting this lecture short so I'm setting an essay," there was a general outcry from her audience which she waited to subside. "On Albert Camus' "The Stranger" and Existentialism : An 8 page research paper on the novel and details of the existential themes of the novel, relate them to the story and the text. Highlight the use of impersonal verbs." She finished and heard her students groan, "oh and for God's sake; cite your primary resource." She shouted at them; only one student had managed to do it last time, out of about two hundred. She picked her briefcase up from her table, grabbed her laptop and walked away from her students. As she did so she noticed many young boys below her, for she was stood on a stage, their eyes skimming over the dark, flawless skin of her bare legs. She didn't smile, she didn't grimace, she was just too used to it to care by now.

"Professor Middleton!" Said a high pitched, overly happy voice.

"Hey, Martha!" Amber said with equal joy even though Martha could not tell she was being sarcastic. "Can I ask why you interrupted my lecture?" Martha's face fell; Amber couldn't help treating most people like her students, her bossy nature meant she was made for a job where she was in charge. Martha began to stutter something, "sorry?" Amber said clearly and Martha started again.

"Well, we have a bit of a situation; it wasn't really me who interrupted your lecture!" The old, immaculate woman said slightly hysterically. Amber fought down the desire to just shout at her for wasting her time, Martha was pretty nice just incredibly eccentric at the worst of times.

"Well then who is?" Amber snapped; finally losing her temper. Martha pointed to someone down the hall and Amber turned slowly, expecting to find an over excited student, she was met with quite a different sight. Her briefcase fell from her hand as she gasped. "Oh my God." Was all she said. Li and Paulo were stood a little way off, Paulo leaning lazily against the wall outside the lecture theatre and li was sat next to him. The girl stood up and walked towards Amber. Li almost laughed; the fact that Amber stood before her in a beige jacket and pencil skirt, a white shirt underneath with the first few buttons undone to reveal more skin than a Professor should, was just a great reminder that she was an adult now.

"Hey," was all Li said.

"Oh my God." Amber repeated before shouting out some form of greeting and embracing Li with such force the other girl couldn't breathe for a few moments.

"Watch it Amber, you'll suffocate her." Paulo said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "it's good to see you." He said and once Li had moved away he embraced Amber.

"Yeah but seeing you again could only mean one thing." Amber said with a smile.

"Trouble." They all said before laughing.

* * *

"So how have you two been?" Amber asked as they walked from the university across the street to her apartment. The busy sounds of a city deafening in comparison to the quiet desert they had, a few hours ago, been a part of. The flashing traffic lights slightly blinding in comparison to the starlight that was in the desert too.

"Good," Paulo answered for himself and Li. Amber smiled to herself as they crossed a busy street, the taxis of Boston hooting at them as they prevented traffic from moving on. "What about you though!" Paulo said, obviously impressed, "a professor at Boston university?"

"Yeah, that's an accomplishment." Li said to Amber who shrugged.

"It's really all there was left for me." She said nonchalantly, "languages was all I could teach and Hex was posted to Boston a year ago so I thought I might as well work in the university here rather than keep my job in…" her voice trailed away and she turned around; Li and Paulo had stopped walking and were staring at her in disbelief. "What?" She asked them and they looked at each other. Li raised an eyebrow.

"Hex?" She started to smile, "you mean you and him…." She burst out laughing when Amber blushed and nodded. Paulo too couldn't help himself.

"Why is that funny?" Amber asked the hysterical pair.

"It's not," Li said through short laughs, "it's really not." Even though she said it she kept laughing.

"Didn't you two ever…?" Amber asked and as she did the laughter subsided, both Li and Paulo shook their heads solemnly, "oh- the train station thing?" She asked Li who nodded. Amber looked at them both for a moment, genuine sadness crept onto her face before turning around to the block of apartments in front of her. She used her key to get in and it took them a good ten minutes to walk up the stairs to her apartment. "Here we are," she said as they reached a beige door, the number 17A in gold glittering letters. She opened the door and led Li and Paulo into the living room.

"Whoa," Paulo said glancing around the room, "well you can tell Hex lives here." Li nodded as she looked around too; small computer parts littered the floor, blue prints of machines were scattered on the couch and there were about six computers in the room all their screens a mixture of numbers and letters, moving, changing places. Amber threw her briefcase onto the table and put her laptop down more carefully on the coffee table. Li knew what was coming when Amber put her hands on her hips so she put her hands on her ears.

"HEX!" Amber shouted and Paulo winced as the piercing sound reached his ears. Li and Paulo waited expectantly for their other old friend to walk into the room. They heard him amble down the hall from his office to the living room. Muttering something about codes and numbers. He entered the room but did not look up; he kept his eyes on the gadget in his hand and tapped it's screen every now and then. Li got a good look of him as he did so; his hair was now a messy mop of brown the flopped down in front of his eyes, he had no ring on his finger and glancing at Amber's hand Li saw there was no ring there either. Hex was wearing a suit which was so strange to Li and Paulo they had to check his face to make sure it was him. Physically he was just taller and slightly more muscular than their days together. Nonetheless it was still Hex. "You're home early." He said, still not looking up at Amber.

"Yeah, I thought we could make out for longer than usual." Paulo said and smirked when Hex stopped what he was doing. He looked up slowly to the three people in front of him. He looked to Amber for confirmation and she nodded with a smile.

"How's it going Hex?" Li asked and moved forwards, he seemed to hesitate, as though working out what was really going on, analysing the situation, trying to make sense of it but no logic came; just an overwhelming sense of happiness that he could see his friends again. She went up to him and, in a slower pace than she had hugged Amber, Li embraced him. Paulo moved forwards too and punched Hex in the arm.

"You got her then." He said quietly and winked at Hex who shook his head.

"I'm guessing you didn't," he whispered back as they hugged, "after you-"

"Yeah, yeah." Paulo said as they broke apart. "You going to work?" He asked as he looked up and down at Hex's suit.

"Oh, no." His accent had changed, Li noticed it was now half americanised, she guessed he must've lived here for quite some time. "I just got back…I was going to tidy up." He said innocently to Amber who shook her head. "What're you guys doing with yourselves these days?" Hex asked with a sly smile as he put the gadget in his hands into his pocket. "You guys want a drink?" He said and was about to walk to the kitchen when Li put a hand on his shoulder.

"No Hex, we need to talk to you two." She said and Hex looked slightly concerned for the fact that Li spoke so seriously, something he was not used to hearing from her. "Sit down for a second." He nodded and looked to Amber, they both sat on the sofa together, Li and Paulo stood in front of them. "I was approached by a guy named Brain Adams," again, like with Paulo she waited for them to work out what that meant. They didn't so-

"Brian Adams?" Hex said suddenly. "He works for the MOD right?" Li nodded.

"How do you know?" Paulo asked, evidently annoyed that Li was laughing; Paulo hadn't known but Hex did. Hex shrugged.

"He's something fancy in Counterintelligence in the British Government; I met him as a kid for creating an infallible security system in a competition." Hex said and everyone nodded, not really impressed at this; Hex was good enough in his field to win a competition like that, no matter what age.

"He's willing to pay just under 750,000." Paulo carried on for Li, "but we have no idea what we're doing for him." He said and Amber raised an eyebrow. "He phones us this morning saying we have just two days left to find everyone else. Li found me and we left this morning to get to you-"

"How did you find us?" Amber asked.

"Wasn't too difficult; you guys are the only two who lead the least hidden lifestyles. They found out where you were Amber; it's not hard to find a university Professor." Li said, "in comparison to Paulo and Alex-"

"Alex…" Hex muttered under his breath and they all looked at him, "I was wondering…what was missing." He said and they all nodded. One left to find. Alpha force was almost complete. "When will he tell us what he wants us to do?"

"When we all get together." Paulo said and crossed his arms. "So are you guys in?" He asked and Hex looked eager enough but Amber looked slightly more concerned.

"What- I'm just going to leave my job for a while? To do something I don't know for however long?" The way she put it did make them all think about the absurdity of this situation. "When I could be doing lectures to kids who think they know all this stuff already?"

"Yeah." Paulo said and Amber stood up.

"When do we leave?"

* * *

I know it doesn't seem like they're discussing much, as in they're not like: where the heck have you been/what're you doing career wise? you know all the usual stuff but i want them to meet up with Alex before discussing that stuff or else it'd have to be repeated to each character and then it would get boring...not that this was very exciting :P

reviews appreciated :D

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	4. Purple Skies

"If the government can't find Alex, what makes you think we can?" Amber asked in exasperation. She stood at the window of her apartment, looking down at the busy streets of Boston, "especially since you said he _told _them not to watch him." She sighed and blew a straying strand of hair from her face. Paulo coughed pointedly and she turned to her three friends that were sat on the sofa, for some reason Hex looked slightly upset.

"Because we have Hex." Li said after a moment. Amber bit her lip.

"Right, sorry, I forgot!" She said to Hex who shook his head. There was a click from the kitchen which meant the kettle had finished boiling the water. She walked into the kitchen and turned as she heard footsteps behind her, Li had followed her. Neither said anything, there was nothing much to say. It was strange how although they had been apart for six years and then together for six hours, it was like nothing had changed. Amber made their tea while Li helped wherever she could, they took it back to the boys in the living room. Paulo, who had evidently grown bored of Hex's musings, was sat in an armchair nearby.

"Hey, look at this!" Hex exclaimed and they all jumped to his side in an instant. "It's a document from the MOD: Special Ops. Executive Alex Craig transferred today from MI5 to MI6-"

"What the heck is the difference?" Li asked.

"MI5; Military intelligence five, deals with national security within the UK where as MI6 is foreign intelligence. Mi5 report to the Home Office and MI6 report to the foreign office." Hex explained as though everyone should know such a thing.

"So basically," Amber said, trying to work it out, "MI5 are spies trying to catch spies where as MI6 are spies trying not to be caught?" Hex thought for a moment before nodding, "oooh." Amber nodded her head as well. "Why was he transferred?" Amber looked over Hex's shoulder to read whatever he was reading.

"…MI5 to MI6 regarding his recent affliction with the Home Office; Craig administrated a recent Operation that was seen as unorthodox by his former colleague Brad Amnias. Further conflictions developing from this meant that either Craig or Amnias were to be displaced; Amnias was dropped and to prevent further questioning at his station Craig was transferred." It didn't seem like much information on Alex but each of them seemed concerned.

"I wonder what the operation was," Paulo said under his breath, "to get Alex into so much trouble." Everyone nodded, thinking hard about what their friend could have done. "The other guy…Amnias…was probably wrong." Paulo said confidently and again everyone nodded, a little more at ease.

"Hey," Hex said quietly and they all turned to him again.

"What?" Amber said and sat down next to him.

"Alex's credit card just showed up on the grid." He said nonchalantly, ignoring the _how-the-heck-did-you-get-that-information _looks from his friends. "I still remembered he was with HSBC," he explained, "get the information from there system and put a sort of invisible tracker on it so whenever it's used it'll alert me." Amber ruffled Hex's hair which was the equivalent of a pat on the back.

"Well, where is he?" Li asked, looking at the mass of numbers on Hex's screen and not understanding any of it.

"Granada, Spain." Hex replied and looked around as Paulo walked up to another computer in the room and grabbed some device from there.

"Well that's not an exact location." Amber said but Hex wasn't listening, he was looking at the gadget in Paulo's hands.

"That's not going to work," Hex told him but Paulo said nothing, he turned the device on. "It's too great a distance…" but he stopped speaking. As Paulo had turned the device on Hex's screen on his laptop changed to show a map of the world; four red dots appeared on the place where Boston was and, to his surprise, another dot appeared in Spain. He raised an eyebrow and clicked the red dot. An exact location came up. "Oh," Hex smiled, "I forgot how amazing I was." He said.

"Yes," Paulo came back to them and threw Hex's palmtop into his hands, "but you seem to be forgetting I'm the one who thought to use that." He said indignantly.

"Well then," Amber stood up, "let's go to Spain!"

"Gracias," Paulo said as he paid the driver. It had been a nine hour flight from Boston to Granada airport which meant they had arrived at 10 pm local time, the sun had just set but there were streaks of purple in the sky that made the stars stand out. The trip had been comfortable seeing as the MOD was paying for everything. The group noticed Paulo and Hex had some contempt when it came to authority and resenting slightly the fact that they were under their control. Nonetheless they had made it to the airport, called a taxi and made their way to Alex's address. The property was hidden away by a tall wall covered in ivy, the entrance was a small gate and they all peered inside. It was a pretty villa with a terracotta roof, whitewashed walls and a green door. Amber pushed the gate open and smiled at the red, pink, orange and white flowers that lined the immaculate garden's path to the house.

The four of them approached the villa cautiously, aware that although lights were on the house seemed still. They made their way stealthily up the red brick pathway and once they were at the green doorway they waited for Paulo to step forwards and knock; he extended a hand, held it in mid air for a moment as though teasing the others to create tension and then knocked.

"I hope he's up." Amber whispered into the darkness, she felt Hex shuffle closer to her as the night breeze made cold air come around them.

"I hope this is the right place." He muttered under his breath, still concerned as to why the tracking device he had made when they were teenagers was still working. As he did the door opened slowly and all of them looked into a pretty hallway where soft jazz music hummed throughout the house. And then they looked down. In front of them stood a little girl, she must have been about 2 years old, looking at them through sleepy but happy eyes. She had long, wavy hair that was the lightest shade of brown possible and big blue eyes that made them all "awww" in unison. She smiled at them mischievously.

"I want one of those!" Amber whispered excitedly and felt Hex shuffle away from her, she hit him playfully in the ribs. The child looked around at them all; she had on a pink nightdress and was holding a yellow blanket with teddy bears on it. She roughly brushed hair away from her face in an irritated manner, something children did when tired.

"Hola. ¿Qué es su nombre? " Paulo asked, Amber translated for the others.

"Hello, what's your name?" She breathed quietly to Li and Hex. The little girl put her head to one side and smiled as though weighing up how she should answer this stranger. "How do you know she speaks Spanish?" Amber asked Paulo and he shrugged.

"She looks like her mother, I bet she taught her." He said nonchalantly.

"Her mother?" Li asked with an accusatory look at Paulo; how did he know who her mother was? They all looked back to the girl who was ready to answer.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeva." She said happily and blinked at them slowly before yawning and putting her blanket to her mouth.

"Eva." Li squealed, "that's so cute." She almost jumped up and down in excitement and fought down the desire to pick the little girl up.

"¿Es en casa su padre? " Paulo asked another question and the girl had to think about it before answering.

"Is your father at home?" Amber translated. Eva pulled her blanket close to her chest and looked over her shoulder.

"Deddy!" She shouted, sounding ecstatic, suddenly awake and ready to run around.

"Deddy?" Hex asked.

"I think she's saying _daddy_," Li explained with a giggle and eventually they all found themselves laughing, partially because Eva was so cute and partially because Li had said the word daddy in the most babyish voice she could.

"Eva!" A woman came from behind the door and, with her back to the four, picked the little girl up, her dark brown waves of hair flowing behind her in the wind. "How did you open the door?" She sounded more impressed than angry. Eva, who was looking over the woman's shoulder, smiled and pointed to the door, trying to get her to turn around. "Didn't I just put you in bed?" The woman laughed and turned to the door. "Sorry, can I help…" Her voice trailed away as she looked around at them all. She recognised them. They recognised her. There was a moment of silence.

"Hello Lily." Amber said awkwardly. Lily put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my…" she looked around at them all, "guys!" She moved forwards and with one arm, for the other one was holding her daughter, embraced them one by one, and kissed them each on the cheek. She laughed when she found Hex still blushed at things like this. "Oh, come in!" She said as though suddenly remembering where she was, she moved aside so they could walk in. "Eva, go call your dad OK?" She asked the little girl in her arms; Eva nodded and silently ran away from them, "¡Cuidadoso!" _Careful, _Lily called. They watched Eva run off and laughed as she peered around the door a moment later to see if they were still looking. Lily turned back to the group and they could tell she was still shocked. "Have you got bags?" Amber nodded, slightly speechless still, "I'll tell Mercedes to get them for you." She said slightly breathlessly. _(A/N: yeah I stole the maid from Pan's labyrinth because I'm SO creative :P). _Lily said something in Spanish and a woman about 20 years older than them all came into the room; she nodded at them all and went through the door to get their bags.

"Lily, aren't you wondering why we're here?" Amber asked, just a little concerned that Lily had welcomed them openly without questions. "Or how we knew where you were? Or why we aren't crashing in a hotel?" She asked.

"Why would I?" Lily seemed surprise by Ambers thoughts, "you guys are welcome wherever we are." She said happily.

"But it's been like…six years." Hex said and Lily put her hands on her hips.

"So?" She seemed bored by the conversation suddenly and walked into the kitchen which is down the hall. "Come in here," she called out to them, "I'll fix you something to eat and drink."

"She's like," Li said, trying to think of a word to describe Lily, "such a mum." They walked into Lily's kitchen, looking around the place eagerly, wanting to see what kind of life their old friends led now. Lily was at the counter, pouring cloudy lemonade from a jug into six glasses filled with ice.

"How've you all been?" Lily asked them and looked at them expectantly, they all shrugged in response. "Hmmm…" she laughed and they noticed that she still looked the same; just as pretty, as fragile, as wise as she did at the age of 15. "I guess you're all a bit tired to recap the past six years of your lives." She said and looked to the door, they all turned and could hear Eva giggling happily, screaming in delight. The door to the kitchen opened and Alex walked in with Eva sat upon his shoulders. He looked up at her and laughed as she rocked back and forth too fast and immediately became scared. He took her from his shoulders and held her normally. "I wish you wouldn't do that," Lily said with distaste, Alex looked to her and as he did he caught a glimpse of the four guests sat in his kitchen. He looked exactly the same too; tall, stocky build with blonde hair and blue eyes which his daughter had evidently inherited. Only a few things had changed, firstly he seemed more charismatic than the Alex they once knew, with his shirt sleeves rolled up and first few buttons undone he seemed to be more confident. And he was better looking than before in general; the girls had never noticed as they had been interested in the others and the boys had never noticed seeing as they were not that way inclined. But now they appreciated it after six years of not seeing him. There was an air of ease about him that was the same though. And just like when they had re-met Lily, there was a moment of silence where everyone stared at each other. Lily walked over to Alex and put her hands over Eva's ears.

"Bloody hell." Alex said quietly and Lily took her hands away from her daughter's ears before taking her out of her father's arms.

"It's great to see you too mate." Hex said and stood up.

"I'll put Eva to bed." Lily said pointedly and walked out of the kitchen. After she left, slowly, the group stood up.

"Guys." Alex whispered before moving forwards and embracing them all.

"I haven't had a group hug in ages!" Amber said and once they had all broke away from each other and were stood in a circle she and Li wiped there eyes. Although he tried to hide it Paulo too blinked away tears.

"I don't believe it." Li said, looking around at them all.

"We're all together again." Alex said quietly.

"Alpha Force is complete." Paulo almost shouted and they all smiled.

Awww….it's so sweet they're all together again...but knowing me it'll all probably get ruined. We'll just have to wait and see!


	5. Saying No

I spent like three hours researching their jobs/universities and then it hit me…who the hell is going to check that what I'm saying is right?! Who cares if New York University has a Modern Languages Department?! I think the "professional authoriness" inside of me came out…what a waste of time!

* * *

"Come on," Alex started and grabbed his and Lily's drinks, "let's go to the living room, we can catch up there." Everyone mumbled an "ok" and were reminded of Alex's authority he had; an unspoken leader that they had forgotten about. They grabbed their drinks and followed him out of the kitchen, into a dimly lit hallway and to the living room. Glancing around they saw no pictures of Alex and his family, they must be on holiday here, so where did they live? "Alright, who goes first?" Alex sat down and they all followed suit.

"I will!" Li said, suddenly full of energy now that they were together again, "well," she took a breath, wondering where to start. "When we all left to start again separately I went to The School of Biological Science to study Environmental sciences, left there three years later and now I work as a botanist for the Botanical Society of America. I'm placed in London, live in an apartment overlooking the Thames…" she thought about what more to say, "oh and I'm not married…no kids." She concluded with a shrug and everyone nodded, they looked to Paulo who was sat on the couch next to her.

"Oh," he sat forwards, not particularly embarrassed by his position in life in comparison to the others. "When we all separated I went back home, but soon people came knocking, wanting me to work for them." He sighed and shook his head, "I hated not being my own person; not setting my own work. So I left home, became a backstreet doctor for people and machines. Now I roam the Arizona desert doing odd jobs." He shrugged and sat back, they all could assume he had no children or a partner. Amber sat forwards.

"I went back home too." She said, "did a degree in Modern languages and Literature at New York University," she smiled to herself for a moment and paused. "I stayed there for three years and met Hex when I left." Alex was surprised by this; so Amber and Hex had ended up together but Li and Paulo hadn't, strange, he would've expected it to be the other way around. "We lived together for about seven months before he got posted in Boston and I applied for a job as a Professor there." She shook her head, signalling there was nothing left to say, she turned to Hex who took a moment to realise it was his turn to speak. He put his drink down on the table in front of him and leant forwards and for a moment it looked like he was debating what he should tell his friends.

"I never went to university either," he nodded at Paulo, "I went straight into work because a company called Cogito-"

"That's Latin for _think." _Amber said quietly, almost to herself.

"I was in Devon for a while, working in a small part of the company but soon they realised my talents were beyond what was needed there." He grinned and everyone was slightly surprised that Hex wasn't as modest as he used to be. "Got posted in New York, met Amber and we both moved to Boston as I got promoted there." He paused and thought for a moment, "yeah, that's my six years in thirty seconds," they all laughed. Now everyone looked over to Alex who also took a minute before saying anything.

"I joined the 21 SAS Regiment when I was 19," everyone smiled; that was what Alex had always wanted to do. "My squadron, A, was situated in Regent's Park and so that's where I lived. I met Lily again, after three years of not seeing her, in Regent's Park College of Oxford university. She was studying there and as soon as we started dating again I was asked to take on a job for MI5 as a Junior Special Operations Executive. I couldn't believe it," everyone laughed as they could hear in his voice that still, after all these years, he couldn't believe it. He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassed way, "I was the youngest guy there and after another two years I became Head of Special Operations. Lily and I got married six months into that job and Eva was born two months after I got transferred to MI6." He took a deep breath and looked around at them all. They all wanted to ask him what had happened in his operation that had made him get transferred but they felt he would have told them. "How the heck did you guys find me?" He asked and looked to Hex, the only one he expected was able to find them, but Hex pointed at Paulo.

"When we all split up we agreed to keep the key rings Hex gave us." Paulo shrugged, "I just checked the tracer."

"Those things still work?" Alex said, impressed, everyone nodded and looked round as Lily came into the room and sat down next to Alex, she looked exhausted after fifteen minutes of getting Eva to sleep.

"So what brings you all here?" She asked and it was Li who answered.

"We've actually come to ask you something Alex." She said because his attention wasn't on her, he was thinking about something else, his intense blue eyes snapped to her after she spoke.

"Oh?" He said and leant forwards. So Li explained the proposition Brian Adams had for them, explaining what she had been doing over the past few days and what Brian Adams had said to her along the way. "So we're going on a mission that we have no information about?" Alex asked and everyone nodded.

"Well," Li said, trying to make it sound a little more appealing, "he said, well he didn't _really _say-"

"You're not making it sound any better." Amber rolled her eyes at Li who took a breath to get over stuttering before she continued.

"He insinuated that it would be just like the things we used to do." Everyone seemed to ease as they heard this although the other four members of Alpha force were waiting for Alex's consent. They sat in silence for at least two minutes, just listening to the ticking of a large grandfather clock that stood in the corner. "Well?" Li asked him as she couldn't take the silence for much longer.

"When do I have to give an answer?" Alex asked back and Li shrugged.

"When I get the phone call," she glanced at the clock, "which will probably be in the morning." He nodded at her and stood up.

"Well then I'll let you know in the morning, but right now I'm guessing you guys are exhausted," everyone nodded and Amber tried to hide the fact that she was yawning but to no avail. "Come on, I'll show you to your rooms, get unpacked, get sleep and Eva will probably wake you up for breakfast." They all smiled as they lined up behind him. Everyone except Lily.

* * *

When Alex entered his room five minutes later he glanced around for Lily and was surprised to not find her there. He'd noticed her stony silence at the end of their conversation before and so decided that it was time he should talk to her. He shut the door to his room and was about to walk to the kitchen when he saw Lily entering it. Paulo came out of his room at the end of the hallway and chatted to her in Spanish as Alex walked over to them, he heard Paulo laugh.

"Paulo, don't flirt with my wife." Alex said sternly and Paulo looked shocked.

"How did you know I was flirting?" Paulo asked.

"Because she only ever smiles at me like that." Alex grinned as his friend patted him on the shoulder and pushed him into the kitchen after Lily. Alex brushed hair away from his eyes, shut the kitchen door and appraised Lily who was reading something. He could tell from the way she did not acknowledge him that she wanted him to speak first.

"The mission," he started, waiting to see her reaction. There was none so he carried on, "sounds good-"

"You're not seriously considering it are you?" She sounded shocked and looked up from whatever it was she was reading. For a moment Alex was speechless.

"Ya what?" Was all that came out of his mouth; they stared at each other until Lily pouted in a way he recognised. He sighed and ran a hand wearily through his hair and looked back at her.

"Don't look at me like that." Lily said loudly. Outside the kitchen door Amber, who was walking innocently back to her and Hex's room, heard Lily's raised voice, looked around slyly and put her ear to the door.

"Amber!" She heard and whipped around, it was just Li so she went back to listening in, "you can't eavesdrop!"

"Why don't you just say what you want to say?" They heard Alex's voice loud and clear through the door.

"It's not really eavesdropping if we can't hear them anyway is it?" Amber pouted at Li.

"Nope," Paulo walked past Li and joined Amber at the door who smiled at Paulo. "This takes you back a bit doesn't it; listening in on their conversation all those years ago," he said dreamily.

"Keep your voice down, you'll wake everyone up!" Lily said and the three outside the door frowned.

"Those two don't seem like the type to fight," Hex said as he came up to them all and was looking with concern at the door.

"They're not fighting," Li said, giving up completely now as she joined them at the door, "they're just talking…loudly." Back inside the kitchen Alex had put his hands up at Lily as though signalling surrender. She sighed and put her hand on her hips.

"What was the reason for coming on this holiday?" She said scathingly and Alex sighed.

"To get away from work, to spend time with you and Eva," he said in a monotone voice but immediately regretted it for Lily didn't look angry anymore, she just looked upset. She turned away from him.

"Alex, all those years ago when you were with Alpha, I waited. For years. _Years." _She closed her eyes as she remembered the pain of waiting.

"I warned you-" Alex stopped as he noticed Lily's hand pass over her face, either she'd brushed a straying strand of hair or a tear away.

"Yeah you did." She turned back to him and he wished she hadn't, he didn't want to see the hurt there. "And yet I waited until we could be together," she laughed quietly to herself, "we were kids back then, I didn't mind coming second." She looked him in the eye but he found he couldn't face her and so looked away, "but right now Eva should be first. She's almost two and you've seen her for about six months of her life-"

"That's an exaggeration!" He desperately tried to redeem himself but it wasn't working; everything Lily was saying was true.

"She loves you," Lily walked forwards and wrapped her arms around him, he returned the embrace, "I love you. But you're hardly ever around; as soon as Alpha was over it was work," she mumbled into his shirt. "The people you love most in the world are in this house, I just can't tell who they are," she moved away from him. Outside the door everyone looked at the floor ashamedly.

"Alex was always such a family guy," Hex said, remembering how close he was to his father, "I never thought he'd put work first."

"Or us first," Li whispered and the others nodded.

"I don't want to force him into coming," Paulo stated and the others agreed even though, deep in the back of their mind the thought of Lily having no right to force him out of it wasn't right either. They dismissed the thought. Inside the kitchen Alex had moved forwards, put his hands on Lily's hips and bent down to her ear.

"I love you." he whispered, "but you can't make me choose-"

"I'm not _making _you," she whispered back, "I'm just asking you. If you want to go that's fine." He was surprised when she said this and she noticed, she pushed him away slightly to look at him. "I know you miss it, who am I to deny you another chance at what you loved doing?" She took a deep breath, "but you don't know how long you're going for, what if we don't see you for weeks?" He was about to answer when she beat him to it, "then I suppose it'll be like normal." He kissed her neck.

"Did I ever tell you what I thought the first time I met you?" He whispered to her and she rolled her eyes; knowing exactly what he was doing. "You were so quiet and wonderful, I never thought you'd catch my heart the way you did." He moved his hands to her neck and made her look at him, "then came the sadness of waiting, making me feel like I couldn't risk it, but you reeled me in, in the sweetest way." Lily smiled mischievously and shoved his hands away from her neck with a sickened smile, "wha-"

"I can't believe you!" She said and shook her head in disbelief. "You can't do that!"

"Do what?" Alex said and, as he had always been, was confused by the way women's minds worked.

"You can't bribe me with sex!" She folded her arms and there was a moment of silence where everyone outside the room held their breath.

"It's worked before." Alex said quietly. But it was loud enough for those outside to hear it; Li's eyes widened, Amber gasped in Lily's offence, Hex found it difficult not to smirk and Paulo, shrugging all veils of modesty laughed as silently as he could. Li and Amber rounded on him.

"I can't believe guys think they can get away with that!" Amber whispered and Hex raised an eyebrow.

"You've never exactly complained." He said to her, she gasped as Paulo laughed harder and even Li found it hard not to start laughing.

"I am _sort of _impressed by Alex's intelligence though," Li said fairly, "I mean, it's usually the girls that try that one-"

"And you would know this because you've tried?" Paulo asked, suddenly serious.

"Yeah but," Amber said, "this is Alex. I'd _never _have expected that from him." Everyone nodded.

"Hang on a second," Hex said slowly, "Li did you just insinuate that the male species is inferior when it comes to intelligence?" Everyone looked round at Li but she was saved from answering when they heard Lily speak again.

"That wasn't funny." She said, "that was just slightly degrading." Her voice became quiet as she said this and Alex bit his lip.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want to argue. I don't want to upset you and Eva, I don't want to upset Alpha either." He said, the conflicting emotions inside of him rising up until he really had no idea what to do. Lily walked over to the door, unknowing that the four guests outside ran back to their rooms at the sound of her oncoming footsteps.

"Make up your mind," she knew it was little help but she didn't want to force him into a decision. "I won't hold anything against you, whatever your decision is," she saw the saddened look on his face and walked back to him, "you think Eva and I will stop loving you or something, it's not the end of the world." She seemed to remember something, "although if we lost you that would be pretty devastating."

"You won't lose me," he assured her and she shrugged.

"I've been losing this battle for a long time." She seemed to say to herself, "come to bed when you're ready," she walked away from him. As she opened the door she turned to him, "this could be our last night together for a long while," she winked and for some reason Alex blushed which always made her laugh. He went out of the kitchen a few minutes later, his mind made up, he knew what he was going to…he had walked past his daughters room and saw her sleeping. He retraced his footsteps and walked in, her room was next to theirs, bathed in a soft pink light that came from her butterfly nightlight. He knelt down next to her bed and brushed a long brown curl off her face, watched the slow riding and falling of her chest as she breathed. For the millionth time in his life Alex marvelled at how small she was, her hands, which he took in his own, were tiny. He hardly knew her and yet all the feelings of love, protection, pride that should be in any parent was woven inside of him. But Eva hardly knew him, he was never around for her, he sighed and kissed her forehead before leaving the room. On his way to his room again he stopped for he had heard Amber shriek something and wanted to see if she was OK.

"What was it you said?" He heard her say, "_I never complain?" _He heard her laugh, "well let's see how much complaining you do when you don't get any for a while." She said triumphantly, the colour in Alex's cheeks rose and he walked away hurriedly as he heard Hex stuttering a response:

"I, hey, now you just wait, let's not get hasty!" His friend said but Alex had a feeling Amber had won that one.

* * *

Where did all this adult talk come from? It scares me slightly, I've never really been too into the AmberxHex thing so that was quite new :P

Reviews are appreciated! And look- Paulo is always Paulo, no changing to Pedro this time mate!


	6. His Potential Murderer

"Mamamamama…" Was all Paulo heard as his eyes opened slowly; something was running around his room. He lifted his head from his pillow and glanced at the clock, 7.47 am. The thing that was in his room quietened down as it sensed him waking up and hid itself in the smallest shadow of the room. He mumbled something about being woken up and sat up; he groped around his bedside table for his watch but looked around as he couldn't find it. The shadow spread across the floor until the thing he wasn't used to was stood at the foot of his bed. He looked up and saw Eva held his watch in her hands and he was surprised to find that she knew she'd done something wrong. She smiled at him and held out the watch.

"Thanks," he moved forwards to take it but Eva took a step backwards, "hey," he muttered and moved forwards again but she moved back. "I really don't have time to play games kid," he mumbled, still half asleep. He flung his legs over the side of the bed and Eva tilted her head to see what he was doing. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the bedside table again; his wallet wasn't there. "Oh, you didn't?" He looked at Eva who held up his wallet, he stood up but she'd run out of the room before he had even taken a step. "Hey!" He shouted after her and walked out of his room to see where she'd gone, Li came out of her room at that same moment. She looked him up and down.

"Are you going to put some clothes on?" She said flatly, evidently Paulo had forgotten he was just in his underwear, he rolled his eyes.

"Tell no one." He said to her and she put a finger to her lips, chuckling to herself as he went back into his room. He went into his bathroom and when he emerged from it twenty minutes later he stood in his towel and watched as Eva put his belongings back on his bed with an innocent, apologetic look. "You're lucky you're cute." He said savagely and ruffled her hair as he walked past her, she ran out of the room a moment later.

"Paulo have you seen Eva?" He heard Alex say as he knocked at the door.

"Yeah she just ran out of here," Paulo said and he heard Alex suppress a heavy sigh.

"She's waking everyone up." He walked away from his friend's room, searching for his daughter who had recently developed a habit of running away from him. "Eva, get out here now!" He said loudly, finally losing his patience. Hex walked out of his room with Eva draped over his shoulder.

"Is this what you're looking for?" He said and sounded exhausted for some reason and Amber came out after him, smiling at Eva who was facing her.

"Sorry guys; she's only ever this hyper when family comes round…well I suppose you guys are pretty much family." Alex smiled at them and Amber nodded at Eva.

"Yep. I'm Aunty Amber." She said to Eva, wondering how much she could talk. "Aaammbbeerr." She said slowly, waiting for Eva to say it back, the little girl's face screwed up in concentration and she opened her mouth.

"Ammmuuurrr!" Hex laughed.

"We're still trying to master the letter b." Alex said as he took Eva from Hex. "When dad says get here he means it." Alex said to her and rolled his eyes as she pouted at him, "you learnt that look from your mother." He said to her.

"Hey," Li called to them as she walked out of the kitchen, "phone's ringing!" They all nodded and walked swiftly to the kitchen, everyone including Lily gathered around the phone as Li put it on loudspeaker. "This is Li Cheong, I've found them all." She waited for a response.

"Good," Brian Adams voice came through, "and they have all given consent?" They heard the sound of rustling paper, "Li, do you consent to this mission of which you have no idea?" He asked and Li looked around.

"Yes."

"Paulo?"

"Yes."

"Amber?"

"Yes."

"Me…Hex?" After a slight chuckle from the group;

"Yes."

"Alex."

"You're aware that I already work for the MOD?" Alex asked and put a hand over Eva's mouth as she began to attempt conversation with Li who was next to her. Adams seemed slightly surprised by Alex's question.

"Yes, as do I."

"Then why have I never heard of a Brian Adams working in the MOD?" He asked and everyone looked at Alex, Li raised an eyebrow; when she had met Adams he'd spoken as though he knew Alex.

"I work with MI7." He said and Alex laughed, everyone looked at him to elaborate.

"MI7 is a defunct department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence." He said knowledgeably, "it was part of the war office, set up to work in the fields of propaganda and censorship." Li bit her lip; had she been tricked? "In other words, MI7 no longer exists." He concluded and everyone looked back at the phone.

"What do you think happens to half of the unsuccessful operations run by your department?" Adams said, "who do you think picks up the pieces? Cleans up the mess?" He replied, "Talk to your head of department-"

"Mil's aware of MI7's operations?" Alex was shocked.

"Yes; he orchestrates the transfers. Here I'll put him on." They heard Adams say and they could hear the shuffling of positions so Mil could get to the phone.

"Alex?"

"Mil, since when was MI7 running?" Alex couldn't believe it, if what Adams was saying was true, being Head of Special Operations, that meant that Alex's missions were passed on to MI7 without him even knowing it.

"It's been running since the end of World War two," Mil's voice sounded slightly quieter and he spoke quicker than Adams so everyone had to lean in a little further to hear him properly. "All our failed or unexecuted missions get sent to them-"

"Why?" It was Lily who spoke, perhaps for the first time that morning, everyone looked to her in surprise and she shrugged. "If the missions are passed on that must mean MI7 is willing to do things other departments aren't, or their resources are wider but then why not hand the resources to MI6 or MI5?" What she said made sense and everyone was silently impressed, they turned back to the phone.

"Lily?" Came a voice, even quieter than before.

"Hey Milton," she said happily.

"That's true," he said after a moment, "MI7 are willing to do things we aren't-"

"So we're going to be working for either a corrupt or unorthodox department of the British government?" Amber asked, beginning to look concerned.

"Of course not." Mil said quickly, "when MI6 took on a mission seven years ago, before Alex joined us, we needed the best to see that this mission was successful. Unfortunately we lacked the survival expert, the navigator, the defence, the doctor, the hacker…" his voice trailed away, "so the mission was put away to MI7 until the time came where we could find the best. It's not that this mission will be unorthodox; it just needs to be completed." He stopped and they all looked around at each other, a little more at ease.

"Adams?" Paulo said and they heard the shuffling of Adams and Mil on the other end of the line.

"Yes?"

"When will we find out what this mission is exactly?" Paulo asked.

"We need to send you out for T&A first-"

"T&A?" Amber asked.

"Training and assessment," Alex answered her.

"If all goes well then you'll be signed up, you can drop out at any point if you don't want to carry on during the training. But once that's over you have no option; you'll know too much about the mission." Adams paused, "is that understood?" They all nodded but then realised he couldn't see them.

"Yes." They said slowly.

"A car will pick you up from where you are in four hours, be ready, and pack for all weathers." The line went dead; everyone looked around at each other.

"Is everything always this secretive with the Military Intelligence departments?" Li asked and Alex nodded sagely. He looked down at Eva as she pulled his chin towards her and smiled; she giggled at something and pointed at Amber.

"Amur!" She said.

"What's an amur?" Lily asked.

"She means me." Amber sighed and everyone laughed. "I think we'd better go shopping; I didn't really bring clothes for all weathers." Everyone nodded at her and the house was suddenly a buzz of chaos with everyone talking to each other from room to room as they prepared to leave, everyone trying to find Eva as she prepared to play hide and seek and finally leaving in two cars to go shopping in Granada. Completely unaware of what was happening just over a thousand miles away.

* * *

In an office block overlooking the Thames in London, a man was sat with a gun to his head, unmoving, waiting for the dreaded sound of a bullet ripping through his skull. No sound came, just his slow, rapid breathing.

"They're not stupid," he rasped to his potential murderer, but the man wasn't listening.

"You think Lily is as pretty as she sounds?" He asked and his victim was speechless for a moment.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason," the gun was taken away from his head but he couldn't move as he was tied to his chair, "thank you for your cooperation Mil, it's much appreciated." He moved away.

"Adams!" Mil shouted to the man, but he was gone.

* * *

Did everyone get what happened? I don't know if I explained it well enough…?


	7. Heaven and Back

Who else thinks that this reader traffic malarkey is amazing? I mean seriously man, I never quite appreciated the extent to which fanfiction is applicable! :D

* * *

"You've got everything then?" Lily asked the group and they all nodded slowly. They were lounging outside a café, eating ice cream, drinking coffee, their bags of shopping around them. No one felt like doing much as the Spanish heat dominated the atmosphere, although they knew they should get back to the house within the hour in order to be packed and ready to go.

"Is she asleep?" Alex asked and leant forwards to see Eva's face that was hidden by Paulo's shirt as he held her. "No, just quiet." He smiled at her.

"She doesn't talk much," Li observed and she tilted her head at Eva.

"She's quiet but clever, trust me," Lily said ominously. Her point was proven as Eva held up a mobile phone and began to play with it.

"Hey," Li laughed, "how did she get that?" Li checked her pockets and found that her phone wasn't there; she took it from Eva who didn't protest.

"Her mother's turning her into a mini-criminal," Alex said and slid down his chair. Everyone raised an eyebrow at Lily who sighed.

"I taught her a trick-"

"You taught her how to pick-pocket." Alex corrected her and Lily rolled her eyes.

"When I was a kid I used to hang out with a gang that made their living by pick-pocketing tourists," she shrugged, "I wanted to see if she could do it." Lily finished feebly.

"She's two; don't you think we should teach her to ride a bike before we teach her to steal?" Alex asked and closed his eyes as though the sunlight was soothing him.

"It could be handy to have a thief in the family," Hex contemplated and everyone felt too lazy to laugh and so just smiled at him instead. "So what kind of things can we look forwards to in T&A Alex?" Hex asked and Alex sat up straight to address the team.

"Pretty much everything we used to do, perhaps they'd make it more advanced though I can't see how they would." He thought for a moment, "they'd train the mechanic in every known vehicle we'll be using, as a medic they'd expect you to be able to handle minor injuries and first aid," he looked to Paulo who nodded. "As navigator," he said to Amber, "they'd expect you to be able to get us through any type of terrain with as little information as possible. Li," she glanced at him, "I hope your knowledge on animals is still just as good as your knowledge of plants-"

"I might be a botanist but I remember everything about animals, don't worry. Although my martial arts haven't exactly been exercised in a laboratory." She added quickly.

"And Hex," Alex turned to him finally, "well your art is your own." He said and moved forwards to drink his coffee.

"Come on!" Amber stood up excitedly; she had forgotten the adrenaline rush that came along with these missions, the excitement of saving the world once more. "Let's get a move on!" She said and had already begun to walk away. "Hex carry my bags." She added quickly.

"What?" He said indignantly but was silenced by a look from her. It took them twenty minutes to travel to the town centre and shop for their equipment, but the ride back seemed to take less time, they were at the house in an instant. Everyone immediately began packing when they got to their rooms and the house was alive once more. Lily was surprised to see that everyone was still the same when it came to packing for she had witnessed it a few times; Li was always ready first, shouting at the rest to hurry up. Paulo, in his usual lazy fashion, was last. Amber always went back for something, Hex wandered in whenever he felt Amber wouldn't yell at him about something and they would go out to find Alex was already in the car. She laughed as everyone gathered at the door in this way and indeed Alex was already conversing with their driver.

"Alright," Alex said walking back to the house, "we ready to go?" Everyone nodded, hardly able to suppress their smiles.

"Goodbye Lily!" Li was the first to say and hugged Lily.

"Bye, have fun." She said as they broke apart.

"Can I get a goodbye Eva?" Li asked the little girl in Lily's arms, she moved forwards to Li and kissed her cheek, there was a resounding "awww" in the hallway. "Thanks!" Li said and moved out of the house.

"Adios." Paulo moved forwards and got his kiss from Eva too. Hex and Amber moved forwards at the same time and while Eva kissed Amber Lily hugged Hex and they swapped.

"She's like a mini you!" Amber exclaimed as she moved away.

"Take care guys!" Lily called to them as they went to the car as well. Alex turned to her and she shook her head. "Bye." She said quietly, he kissed her forehead seeing as that's the only part she'd let him kiss.

"Daddy!" Eva shouted and wriggled in her mother's grip to go to him, but Lily held her tight.

"Daddy's leaving." Alex said to her and kissed her cheek. "But he's coming back." He whispered to her.

"Don't talk in third person," Lily said to him, "you'll confuse her grammar." He looked at her and for a moment she seemed genuinely annoyed but then they both laughed. "Come back soon." She said and kissed him quickly as they heard Li call to them from the car.

"I love you guys," Alex said as he walked out of the door.

"Daddy." Eva put her arms out for him to pick her up but he couldn't, he turned back around and waved. He got in the car, Alpha force waved to Lily and Eva who waved in return.

"We're going back." Li said quietly and stared out of the window. Nobody needed to ask what she meant, they had no idea where they were going in the car but they all knew, had this feeling that they were travelling back to how things used to be.

* * *

_-6 days Later-_

"This has to be the _weirdest _navigation exercise ever." Amber said to herself as she tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. It didn't help that she was blindfolded too and with a bag of rocks on her back. Two hours ago her supervisor had placed the blueprint of a house on a table in front of her, told her that a key was located in a certain room that she had to get to. So she had to memorise the map to such an extent that she could carry out the task blindfolded. She laughed; she'd always thought it was just a figure of speech. In honesty she was amazed with herself; she hadn't navigated anyone anywhere for a while now and was surprised at how good she was at it. For instance she knew exactly where she was right now according to the blueprint and other information she saw; if she extended her hand left she'd come across a door with two glass panes. She reached out left and felt the door, it was exactly how she though it would be. If she took a step right and extended her hand there was a table with a huge vase. She laughed as she found it; this was too easy.

Alpha force had been taken from Spain to London where they were not met with Brian Adams but his underling, Joshua Brent. The man explained that they would be going to a town called Dresden. Amber immediately informed them that Dresden was a town that was bombed by the allies during WWII and many parts of it were still ruins. Brent agreed with her and claimed that it was the ideal location for much of the T&A hat his department ran. So they had been here for six days, each doing their own exercises to develop their skills and then coming together in the afternoon to do a group exercise. Everyone was enjoying it; it felt good to be back up to scratch with their talents and spending time together again was a bonus.

"Ouch!" Amber exclaimed as she bumped into a door, she knew where she was going but hadn't been paying attention. She opened the door and felt for the doorknob on the other side because she knew the key would be there. She found it, "I found it!" She shouted into her microphone.

"Yes Amber but there's no need to shout at me." Her supervisor's, Hart's voice came in her ear. She put a hand to her mouth.

"Sorry." She whispered.

"Now you have to get back to base." Hart said. Amber smiled; this was _way _too easy.

* * *

"Hullo solider," Alex heard a voice behind him say and stood up to attention immediately.

"At ease," the voice said in a bored tone as though Alex should know better than doing that. Alex kept looking straight ahead as a figure came in front of him. Alex had been sat at a table, he felt like a school kid waiting for the teacher to come and tell him off. It was an odd office but one Alex was familiar with; hardly used no photos or decoration, just the desk and the filing cabinet. The man that walked around the table was Adam's representative, Joshua Brent. He wore an expensive suit and a bright white smile that had made the group cringe when they first met him. When Alex realised it was Brent he relaxed completely; there was something about the man that Alex didn't like, something that meant he didn't deserve such treatment. Anyway, in ranks Alex was higher than him so there was no need for that introduction. "Please, sit." Alex had already sat down before being asked, Brent noticed this and smiled even more. "So," he took a file out of his briefcase, "how're things going?" It was such a vague question that Alex was annoyed by it.

"Fine." He answered quickly, wanting to get this over with. Brent nodded, obviously not paying attention, and he flicked through Alex's file.

"how long have you been with Special Ops?" Brent asked, still not looking at him.

"Two years, one month." He said dully.

"Your first mission," Brent read from the file, "where was it?" Alex was surprised by the question but answered anyway.

"Primary location was London, Secondary location was Marlow, a town North-"

"Yes, yes." Brent waved a hand for Alex to stop, "that's what it says." He read some of the file again, "seventh operation with MI6 was in Kuwait, mission objectives were?" Alex realised why he was doing this now and so sat up a little straighter.

"Secure a perimeter around the Iraq/Kuwait border for our Prime minister to make his arrival-" Again Brent put a hand up to stop him. No one had told Alex this would be his assessment; his ability to retain information about situations, events, people he has worked with. He needed to know everything about the places he'd worked in and to Brent's surprise Alex remembered everything, even the trick question when Brent referred to a mission Alex had never done. Then Brent began to ask Alex questions about what he would do in certain situations, how he would handle a team. He went onto weapons, the parts of weapons, functions, new advances. They were in the office for a good four hours before the words game that Alex so wanted to hear.

"Assessment over, well done." Brent said and signed a few papers. "This is your last night here?"

"Yeah," Alex sighed; he quite enjoyed the exercises the groups did here, even though he had had the least training of them all seeing as he was used to doing this anyway.

"I hear you're going to see Paulo for flight simulation," Alex nodded even though Brent didn't look up; the man wasn't listening anyway.

"If you see Li could you tell her that I'm waiting for her in here, will she know where it is?" Alex laughed.

"This is the only fully intact building for five miles." He said and stood up. "How is her assessment going?" He asked and walked to the door.

"She sent two of our men to hospital," Alex smirked and walked out of the door; well martial arts were Li's speciality.

* * *

Hex was in heaven, sure Amber took him somewhere close to that but this was something else. He was in control of a whole unit, it was amazing; the amount of power he had over a system and his team was unbelievable. He was sat at a station he'd become accustomed to over the past five days, talking to and keeping an eye on each member of his team.

"Agent A I'm going to blackout Light 23b so be ready to move," they had a navigator with them so didn't need his help on where to go, they just needed him to tell them how to get there. With a few clicks of his mouse and a password typed in he was ready to turn the light off. It was a huge search light that would look for intruders but he didn't worry too much about it; the program they had provided him with was sophisticated enough to handle anything surprising. What was surprising to Hex was that his supervisor, Manny, refused to sit with him, in fact hex had no one on his team with him at the moment. But he knew he was being watched and he didn't want to disappoint. It was also unnerving when he was told he was not allowed to name his team mates, they were just Agents A through D. He shrugged off the worries as soon as he reached the computer though. "Agent D camera 4d is about to rotate to the left, you will be out of view for twenty-two seconds; make your move." He watched from his own cameras what his agent did. "Alright, blackout begins in 5,4,3,2,1." He flicked the switch, this was too easy.

* * *

"Alright Alex," Paulo pushed him into the helicopter and sat next to him, "I'm only going to show you this once so pay attention." He said and began reading the dials, Alex expected him to explain but perhaps he knew that Alex didn't need to know. "Basic rules with any flying machine," Alex laughed as Paulo gestured that the helicopter could fly. "Treat your vehicle like your woman," he winked at Alex, "get inside her twice a day and take her to heaven," he pointed upwards, "and back." He pointed down.

"Is that all you ever think about?" Alex asked and Paulo shook his head, leant back and flicked a switch above him.

"Of course not," Paulo said seriously and flashed a smile at Li as she walked past the helicopter, she rolled her eyes and waved at Alex who leant across Paulo to talk to her. "Whoa whoa, Alex." Paulo said and pushed his friend away from him slightly.

"Hey, what's up?" Li asked as she approached them.

"Brent needs to see you for finally assessment." Alex told her and she chewed her bottom lip.

"Hmmm, have you had it?" She asked.

"I've just come back."

"What was it like?" Alex contemplated.

"It was the single most thrilling experience of my life." He said and the other two laughed at his sarcastic tone. "He's in the only standing building in this place," Alex informed her and she nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you later." And with that she was gone; Alex noticed the way Paulo watched her walk away for longer than was necessary. He put a hand on his shoulder.

"Perhaps there's still a chance?" But Paulo shrugged his hand away.

"No," he went back to examining the helicopter but Alex had a feeling he was just trying not to look at him. "How do you do it Alex?" Paulo said after a minute and Alex looked around to him in confusion.

"Do what?" He asked; worried by Paulo's slight lack of energy that he was used to.

"Stick with one woman?" Alex laughed but Paulo had made it sound like the most difficult thing he'd ever heard of.

"Easy," Alex got out of his seat and began to leave the flying machine, "I love her." Paulo grimaced. "Are you still in love with her?" Paulo nodded guiltily and Alex sighed; Alex had never been too good on relationships, his own one with Lily had been complicated enough. "Then why don't you-"

"It's the fact that I love her that I can't be with her." Alex tried to imagine what that meant, Lily had told him something like that when they were teenagers but he hadn't understood it then either. "I don't want to hurt her anymore." Paulo said quietly and got out of the helicopter after Alex. The blonde haired man put an arm around his friend.

"Give it time; maybe being back together will change both your minds?" Alex speculated and this seemed to work. Paulo got his usual energy and bounce back much to Alex's relief. They looked around the ruined town of Dresden, both happy that they had managed to come back together, that their lives were, to them, returning to normality. How wrong they were. For hundreds of miles away another man was making his move.

* * *

"Wasat?" Eva asked Lily and tried to jump so she could see the small white stick on the bathroom counter. Lily picked her up.

"This will tell mummy if she's having a baby." Lily explained; not sure if Eva understood those implications.

"¿Por qué?" _Why? _Eva asked and Lily found that Eva did sometimes ask the strangest questions, the woman sighed and put Eva down.

"Because your dad is a very smooth talker and I am very weak." She said sarcastically but Eva seemed satisfied with this answer and ran out of the bathroom. Lily sat on the edge of the bathtub and sighed; they'd been gone almost a week on T&A, they had no information on what their mission was about so God knew how long that was going to take. She sighed, she wished she hadn't been so harsh to Alex, even though he did deserve-

Her thoughts were broken as she heard a loud crash come from her living room, she walked out from the bathroom hurriedly, down the hall and to the front door.

"Eva!" But she stopped dead, her front door was on the floor, it's window pane smashed, glass scattered the floor and glittered in the lamplight. "Eva?" She called again and walked into the living room. "Ev-" For the third time that night she was stumped. Four strangers were stood in her living room.

* * *

And now the real story begins :D can i just point out that you should never take things at face value...everyone just keep that in mind ;)


	8. The Madman and His Muse

"Wha, who, whe…" Lily stuttered at them and they just stared back at her. She stopped and took a deep breath; she got a chance to look around at them all. On the far right was a rather large man with dark skin, he wore a leather jacket that she guessed must've meant he was boiling in it and large sunglasses. When he smiled at her hungrily he revealed gold teeth, to his left was the complete opposite of him; a small, skinny, pale man with a few scratches above his left eye.

"Hello Lily," the man that took a step forwards was one that looked as though he wasn't Mediterranean like the other two, he looked like an English man completely at odds with the Spanish heat. His blonde hair was plastered to his forehead from sweat. His suit seemed uncomfortable as he tried to walk to her, she took a step back. "I-"

"Where's my daughter?" Lily talked over him. He smiled at her and gestured to the man next to him, the one Lily had not been paying attention to. He looked oddly familiar, with brown hair and bright brown eyes, he was English too, Lily could tell straight away. She looked to him and he looked down; Eva was hidden by a sofa; holding onto his hand, she looked happy enough.

"Lily, as you-"

"Give her to me," Lily said, paying no attention to him, he moved forwards and hit her face with the back of his hand, she stumbled backwards but made no noise. Just held a hand to her cheek and looked at him with angered eyes.

"Don't interrupt me, it pisses me off," he said to her and looked down at Eva who had begun struggling against his underling's hand when she saw him hit Lily and was beginning to shout to go to her mother. "Are you both so alike?" He moved to Eva, "didn't you see what happened to your mum after she interrupted me?" He said quietly and knelt down beside the girl, she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Eva, Párelo y sea todavía." Lily said quickly; _stop it and be still. _Eva immediately put her tongue back in her mouth and stood still, knowing that her mother was serious when she spoke in Spanish to her. The man turned back to her and smiled.

"You really don't remember me?" He said to Lily who again took in the blonde hair and hazel eyes, she shrugged.

"I used to work with your husband," Lily noticed that he clenched his fist, "til he got me deported that is." He smiled at her and held out a hand which she did not take, "Brad Amnias." He winked at her.

* * *

"Hello," Brent said in a sing-song voice that everyone had become too used to be annoyed by it. There was a murmured greeting that went through out the group. Alpha Force were sat in their usual places they took in their "canteen" it was an underground bunker, a naked light bulb hung low from the ceiling, it's light illuminated half of their faces. Cigarette smoke swirled through out the room, killing the sweet perfume that lingered on the girl's skin. "Put that out Paulo," there was shared laughter.

"It's not me," Paulo said and nodded to Alex who moved forwards, out of the shadows and pressed the cigarette against the table to put it out. Brent was surprised by this but didn't show it, he merely smiled in thanks to Alex who nodded.

"Alright," Brent said and slammed his briefcase on the table in the usual dramatic way he did. He took a gadget from his pocket and pressed a button, Alpha sat up straighter as they heard the door lock. "So you can't escape," he winked at Li who smiled; obviously such a charming man meant no harm. "Who wants to play a game?" Alpha could sense this was a test and so leant in a little. Brent took out an empty green bottle and placed it in the middle, he spun it and it landed on Li. She smiled in a shy but welcoming way that meant them grin, only Alex looked slightly concerned by this. "Oops," Brent turned the bottle, "that was meant to land," he stopped at Alex, "here." Now the entire group was sure something was wrong. "Truth or dare Alex?" Brent said and Alex grinned in a sly way.

"Dare." Everyone laughed at the off hand way Alex talked; that way they remembered whenever they used to play this game.

"I dare you to tell them," he pointed at the group, "the truth about what you did to Brad Amnias." There was a deadly silence. The group looked to Alex who was staring at Brent as though trying to work him out. "Well?" Alex shook his head in a way that showed it was nothing big.

"It's illegal to discuss work outside the office." He shrugged and sat back as though it didn't bother him but everyone could see from the way he looked at Brent that something was seriously wrong. Brent nodded consolingly.

"You need persuading?" He said in an almost babyish voice. He turned around and turned the TV on that was on a table, after adjusting the channel everyone peered around Brent's frame and recognised the place and person immediately.

"Is that…?" Li said, hardly daring to believe the turn of events.

"What've you done?" Alex said and stood up; he kicked his chair away from him and the sound of metal crashing onto the floor made the group jump. "What've you done?!" Alex moved faster than anyone anticipated until he had Brent pinned against the wall by his neck.

"Alex!" Hex and Paulo shouted and ran forwards to prevent him from harming Brent.

"What the fuck have you done?!" He shouted again and it took both Hex and Paulo to restrain him. He gained some satisfaction in seeing the fear in Brent's eyes.

"Alex." Li whispered and he turned around to the screen. Paulo and hex dropped his arms and he hung is head as though he'd already killed Brent. "They've got Eva." Li said fearfully and surprisingly Alex turned calmly to Brent.

"You're pretty stupid," he said scathingly to the man who was straightening his tie and rubbing the back of his neck. "Locking yourself in a room with me-"

"He's not that stupid." Alex stopped as he heard a voice he'd hoped he'd never hear again. He turned back to the screen and was silently praying that it wasn't true but he saw, stood in front of Lily who was tied to a chair and gagged was his old colleague, Brad Amnias.

"Brian Adams," Hex said suddenly, everyone turned to him and he looked shocked, "it's an anagram of Brad Amnias." Everyone took a moment but as Alex realized such a simple trick he soon became angry again.

"So I guess that makes _you_ the stupid one this time Alex!" Amnias laughed for a long, long time until he was out of breath and each laugh sounded painful. "Tell them then," the man on the screen took out a knife and put it to Lily's neck, everyone was surprised to see Lily made no attempts to move away, in fact they could swear she was smiling slightly from behind the white cloth hiding her mouth. "Tell them how you screwed me over!" He shouted at the screen and as he did a small figure beside Lily that was sat on the floor curled up to her leg at the sound of his screams.

"Eva," Amber whispered after a minute of silence as they guessed who the small figure belonged to. They all turned to Alex who really had no choice but to tell them.

"Let me speak with Lily," he said to Amnias who, for some bizarre reason, acted as though he were entertained by the situation and couldn't wait to see what Alex had to say to her.

"What's one more lie eh?" He said happily to Alex before removing the gag from around Lily. As he did this in a slightly eccentric manner, the others guessed he must have a fragile or already broken mind. Lily took a deep breath for air as the cloth was removed, Amnias took it from her and smelt it with a look on his face as though- "I can taste her lips practically," he said happily and it took all of Alex's self control not to say anything back.

"Lily?" Alex said quietly and she looked at him, still they could see she was smiling. "Why...why're you smiling? Don't say _I told you so _or any other rubbish because this is seri-"

"I'm smiling because if my two year old daughter, who is tied up and bound by the way at my feet, sees that I'm upset and out of control, she'll be in an even worse condition than she is now." She said the entire sentence in one breath.

"That's worse than _I told you so,_" Alex said jokily and he and Lily laughed for a moment, but he could see as she looked at the screen that her eyes glassed over. "Lily be strong-"

"I am," she closed her eyes and took a breath, "I am." She wasn't, she'd never been so scared in her life; she'd had a gun pointed at her before but nothing compared to this: being handled by this madman. "Well," she tried to think of something to say but nothing came to her.

"Are you and Eva OK?" Alex said, also making small talk. She smiled.

"Well I've sort of been through this before, this is Eva's first time waiting to be rescued and I think she's coping-" There was a muffled shout from Eva as the child finally paid attention to the screen. Alex reached out to her and felt his had hit the heated glass of the TV screen.

"I'm so sorry." He said and Lily shrugged.

"There's no point thinking about what we should've done when we should be focusing on what we could do." Alex nodded.

"I love you." His voice became quieter and for a moment Lily did not respond.

"I know." Was all she could say.

"Awww!" Amnias shouted and walked back into view, "that's so sweet." He smiled and Eva and Lily, "but I'm afraid it's also the end of your conversation." He bound lily again and she stared at the screen ahead of her although no one could tell if she was paying attention to what she was seeing. After the man was done with her he picked Eva up and the girl immediately began to try to wriggle free but he did not let go of her.

"Let her go or I swear-"

"You'd swear Alex?" Amnias put on a look of exaggerated distress, "oh anything but that please." He laughed and Alpha could hear others laughing in the background. "Really?" He asked, "Emmet's blue eyed boy would swear at me if i hurt his little girl?" He turned Eva to face him and the sound of her muffled screaming made Amber put a hand to her ears; wanting to hear no more. "But daddy won't come running!" He said in a babyish voice, "no,no,no. He didn't come for me or his best friend and he won't come for you either!" He laughed at her.

"Jesus, Brad," Alex whispered in a horrified tone that made Alpha terrified; they'd never heard Alex sound scared, "what happened to you?"

"Me?!" Amnias laughed again, "tell them." He indicated to the people around Alex, "or your whore of a wife gets this," he held up the knife, "in her gut. And that wouldn't be too nice," he said to Eva.

"When Brad and I were working with MI5," Alpha turned to Alex who'd hung is head in shame and it took them a moment to realise he had begun the story, "there were three of us; Brad," he indicated the the TV screen and Amnias waved at them, "me and a guy called Scott. I trained with him often when i was with the SAS; he worked in the field and me and Brad were in the offices. We did all our missions together and they both became my best friends in and out of work." Alex sighed and thought of how to go on. "One day...one mission, we had to," he chose his words carefully, "get rid off a foreign agency; a number of linked spies. Anyway, that was my twelfth mission as head of Special Ops and I got arrogant-

"Arrogant," Amnias shouted at the screen with a laugh, "like his fucking shit's made of gold." He said quietly.

"Yeah," Alex nodded and no one was sure if he was actually listening to Amnias, "that bloody big headed." He sat down in the chair nearest to him and rubbed his eyes. "It was on that mission that everything that could've gone wrong, went wrong. It doesn't matter exactly what happened but both Brad and Scott were in the field that day and when the time came the foreign agents gave me a choice; hand over our agents already captured by you and we won't kill Scott or Brad." Alex sighed as he relived those moments, some of the most painful he had ever had to endure. "In the end I ordered the execution of Scott...like i pulled the trigger. And Brad, they didn't kill him-"

"They took me home," he said and they all looked back to the screen, "treated me like something they found on the bottom of their shoe, like a child they never wanted, like a bloody animal!" He screamed, "and when i came back oh Alex what did you say when you saw i lost my mind?" He put a hand to his ear to listen to Alex's reply.

"I told them Brad ordered it-"

"HE TOLD THEM I ORDERED IT!" The man's voice broke, "the bloody cheek; after all I did for you!" He shouted at Alex.

"Like what?" Alex said, suddenly angry and Brad did that thing when someone tries to think of something cool to say but can think of nothing and stares at you with their mouth open, he gestured to Lily.

"Like, not fucking your wife." He said as though it were obivous.

"That's a favor?" Paulo asked and Amnias snickered.

"I think we're all missing the point!" He said loudly, "Alex, the good, moral, handsome, clever, soldier that everyone thought he was, was no more!" He sounded like a magician and Li smiled in confusion at him. "He blamed me, and the crazy one got deported. While he stayed on, an inquiry was launched!" He said dramatically, "but no...they could find nothing on their favorite because guess what?" He paused for effect, "there was no said mission; it was never meant to happen, Alex orchestrated it all himself." The man sighed, "well now you know what a dick your friend is," he addressed Alpha and again there was silence for a good few minutes.

"What do you want Brad?" Alex said, "give me my daughter and wife-"

"oh, oh, oh!" He pointed an accusing finger at Alex, "you know what i want; compensation!" He smiled at them, "you're all going to steal something for me." He waited for a moment, "what, no gasps? No outcries? Fine, whatever." He finished lamely, "but I'll tell you more about that later; there are other secrets to unveil!" Alex looked up as he said this but the man grimaced, "don't think you're so special Alex, I'm talking about the others in your group. And judging by the looks on your faces I'm guessing you've all kept the juicy stuff to yourselves?" He nodded knowledgeably. "OH I KNOW!" He shouted excitedly and put Eva on the floor, "I'll tell you a secret first and then you tell me one!" He said and ran to the screen. "You wanna know how I found you all again? Not really a secret. Sorry Li, by the way, making you find them all, just wanted to watch you suffer." He smiled at her, "no, no, not a secret but a surprise!" He said and looked around in a weird sense of paranoia, "I used this guy!" He beckoned someone forwards and the brown haired, pale boy walked into view, "I didn't have to bribe this one; came of his own free will!" He said and the boy, who was younger than Alpha, glanced quickly at the screen.

"You son of a bitch." Hex whispered and they all looked at him and them back to the boy he was staring at; a vague sense of familiarity came to them. Amnias shook his head.

"Don't talk to him like that," the blond haired man ruffled the boys hair, "or at least don't talk about your mother like that Hex."

* * *

I have no idea where the last part came from, just thought "hey- lets throw someone else's family into the mix!"...It's Hex's little brother for those of you who are still wondering.

There was SO much bad language in this chapter...as well as Amnias being a crazed freak...dunno why i wrote him like that...he reminds me of another character from somewhere- can't say who though, don't remember!

Anyway, please review if you like where this is going!


	9. Shut Up

"Hey," the young boy said and put a hand up in acknowledgement to the group in the bunker. Everyone's head swivelled from Hex to his younger brother and back again.

"Matt." Hex said slowly and paused. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Hex shouted and Amber put a hand on his arm to calm him down, the gesture worked for Hex glanced downwards in embarrassment at his outburst.

"You're hardly one to talk." Matt said back with a slight grin.

"What would mum say?" Hex shook his head at his sibling who rolled his eyes.

"Don't pull that one," Matt said, "don't try and make out that I was always the perfect son so should continue to be. Cause you were always away, first it was up in your room with that damned computer then it was alpha force and then it was work." He took a deep breath and was about to keep talking when Amber's hand dropped from Hex's arm and she stood up.

"What do you mean by _you're hardly one to talk_?" She asked him and noticed the way Hex wouldn't look at the screen. Matt said nothing but glanced back at Hex, Amber turned around. "What does he mean by that?" Amber whispered dangerously to him. There was an exaggerated gasp from Amnias.

"You never told the woman you love about your past? About your dirty, dark, crazy past?" Amnias said in distress, "well to be honest it's pretty tame compared to Paulo's, even though it was only the one thing." Everyone turned to the man who was sat in the darkest corner.

"Paulo-"

"NO, NO, NO LI!" Amnias shouted at her, "one at a time!" he said like a child whose game had been ruined. "I'm sorry," he gestured to Amber, "please continue." Amber nodded at him with a confused look and turned back to Hex. "Hurry Hex we don't have time!" Amnias said excitedly. Hex sighed and sat down.

"I used to," he glanced around for some route of escape but found none, "I used to be part of a group of hackers, back when I was in my late teens and we…" he looked up at Amber quickly, "took money from transfers going into banks." He shrugged as if it were nothing.

"You…_stole_?" Amber said quietly, "after all the good, moral things we did?!" She shouted at him and Li shuffled slightly away from her; everyone aware that it wasn't good to be around Amber when she was mad. She moved forwards and hit him hard in the chest with her fist. "And you never told me?!" She shouted and he grabbed her hand before she could hit him again.

"I'm sorry." Hex said but when there was no more to say she ran a hand through her hair and walked away from him. He watched her for a while but she didn't turn back and face him.

"Whoops," Amnias whispered through the silence, "tough break mate." He said to Hex with an apologetic smile. "But Amber do you have nothing to tell Hex?" Amber shook her head but still didn't turn around. "Guess what guys?" Amnias asked the group, "she's telling the truth." Everyone sighed in relief; the tension Amnias built up between them was incredible. The way he was turning them against each other without them even realising it was astounding too. "Li don't got much either," he said and they looked at the screen to see he was searching through a file. "You're divorced?" Amnias said to her and she looked away, "come on, that's nothing to be ashamed about!" He smiled at her and she looked to Paulo.

"It is when I only filed for a divorce when I thought I made a mistake!" Paulo looked up at her but hung his head in shame, "but I guess I was wasting my time?" She asked him. "What did you do?" She whispered. There was a moment of silence in which everyone watched Eva stand up on the screen, try to walk to her father who was on the screen but then fell down because her legs were bound.

"I killed a man." Paulo said and Li put her hand to her mouth. "Once," he assured her, "only once-"

"Once, a million times, what difference does it make? It's still wrong?" She shook her head to get rid of tears, "so when I left you, oh no, when _you left me, _you also lost your moral code?" She asked scathingly and swore when he nodded at her. "I can't believe this is happening." She whispered and sat down.

"It wasn't my fault-"

"I don't care." Li said and lapsed into an angry silence.

"Brad," Alex spoke for the first time in a very long time, everyone turned to look at him, "you're plan is flawed-"

"Flawed you say Alex?" He said in a bored voice, "please explain and enlighten me with your great wisdom." Alex sat forwards and rested his hands on the table.

"You say you want us to work for you, together as a team, but you're breaking us apart." Alex said and looked around at his four friends who didn't seem to care for each other much anymore.

"Oh no," Amnias waved an impatient hand at Alex, "I just wanted to ruin you all bit." He sighed, "you're seriously telling me that you all hate each other now, don't trust each other? From ten years of complete trust which I destroy in 5 minutes? NO." He looked at them, "you're all good, kind people, you'll trust each other in a second." He pointed at Amber. "So the guy used to rob banks," he shrugged, "you still love him don't you." Amber said nothing but from the way she glanced at Hex they could tell she still did. "And you, pretty boy," Paulo looked up, "you had exceptional circumstances for that murder didn't you?" Paulo nodded, "and your best friends won't hold that against you will they?" Everyone shook their heads. "Very well!" He turned around as Eva started crying, "that's a bloody awful noise, Matt," he addressed the young man at his side, "shut it up."

"Brad," Alex said in a warning tone and the man sighed.

"Oh alright, I'll play nice." He said with a quick smile, "untie Lily and the kid." He said to his two underling stood behind Lily, they obliged. "But Lily," Amnias turned to her, "I don't want no funny business OK?" Lily nodded. "I'm hungry too," he thought for a moment, "Lily, go cook." She looked at him savagely and nodded again. As soon as she picked Eva up she stopped crying, "good."

"Do you want the mission brief?" Matt asked and took out a sheaf of papers from his bag, Amnias nodded and Matt placed the papers into his outstretched hand.

"Alright guys," he said happily to Alpha, "let's see what you're going to do for me!" He read the paper and nodded. "I'm guessing you just about know about Sottoportego del Banco Giro, the first bank EVER in Venice?" He waited for them all to nod. "Never been robbed," he said slowly, scanning the page, "nope, never." He smiled at them, "I want that to change. I want," his face screwed up in concentration as he thought about it, "€20.1141934." He concluded.

"Bit of an odd amount…" Paulo muttered.

"That's 16 million pounds." Matt said back.

"Yo Amnias," Amber said and his attention snapped over to her, "ever heard of the term _impossible_?" He giggled in a mocking way.

"Ever heard of the term _shut up_?" He said and smiled at her.

"How're we supposed to do that?" Li asked and Amnias hit his forehead with his hand.

"Are you all idiots?" He shouted, "one of you used to do it for a living." He gestured to Hex who jumped.

"No, that was completely different!" But Hex went quiet as Amnias put his middle finger against his lips and shushed Hex.

"Look, you guys are amazing. I have the results of your T&A to prove it." He laughed, "so don't give me a _we can't do it _or any other juvenile bullshit because you have to." He moved close to the screen and whispered. "Because if you don't I'll blast a bullet right through that little girl's head before she can scream the word _noh!" _They looked at him blankly, "Spanish for _no. _And I swear to God I'll do it Alex." He added. "And it's sad, really, because I've watched you guys the entire time you've been in this house and I know you've all become quite attached to the little one. So I'm guessing you'll do it." He muttered something to Matt. "You can all have a little chat, you know, make a shopping list, and I'll get back to you in two hours." He moved away from the screen, "that gives me and Lily a little while to catch up." Matt came in front of the screen, they heard him push a button before the screen went blank.

* * *

"That's a very beautiful bracelet," Lily moved her hand away as Amnias fingered the bracelet on her left wrist. She proceeded to ignore him and cut up vegetables. She didn't look at him, talk to him or acknowledge him. "I said," he slammed his knife point down into the cutting board she was using. She jumped back and dropped her own knife so it clattered on the floor, "that's a very beautiful bracelet. Who gave it to you?" Lily bent down, picked up her knife and went to wash it. As she stood up she realised that the knife Amnias was using had once belonged to Alex.

"Thank you," she said and let warm water drip down the blade, "my father bought it for me." She heard him laugh and turned around.

"You mean," he drew a line with his finger on the table, put his nose against the hard wood and snorted along the imaginary line. "Señor Druggo." He laughed and Lily smiled.

"That's my father." She said and walked past Amnias, as she did he grabbed her hand.

"How come you never followed in his footsteps?" He asked and anyone would've thought the answer was obvious but he couldn't understand it. When Lily did not answer he pulled her back and rested his chin on her shoulder, he nodded out the door towards Eva who was playing with Matt. "You do everything for her right? You want the best for her." He blew on the skin of her shoulder, "you lived in a mansion as a kid, servants waited on you every hour of the day. How come you don't want that for your daughter?" He asked.

"My daughter has everything she could ever need-"

"Except her dad." He laughed, "come on you told me that once," he whispered as he brushed her hair to one side. "One lonely summer evening when Alex was out-"

"It wasn't like that." She whispered disbelievingly and turned to him.

"Wasn't like what?" He asked with a smile, "I never insinuated anything." He said quickly.

"Why are you doing this?" Lily asked and tried very hard not to break down, "please Brad, you were never like this-"

"I LOST EVERYTHING!" He shouted at her and she looked away. He saw Eva look in concern through the door; Matt got up and shut the kitchen door for Amnias. The man took Lily by the shoulders and forced her against a kitchen cupboard, he leant in close "I lost everything." He repeated in a dangerously quiet voice. "While I was tortured by foreign intelligence Alex was fucking you in _my _office. You know how that makes me feel?" He said and his face contorted with rage so close to Lily's she couldn't help but start sobbing. "That hurts Lily, no, no, no," he muttered and took her face roughly in his hands. "Don't cry. I don't want Alex to think I treated you bad." He stopped suddenly and put a hand to Lily's mouth to stop her from making noise. There was a knock on the front door.


	10. Hello Kitty

Sorry for the wait!

* * *

There was deadly silence in the bunker for a good four and a half minutes; everyone getting to grips with what they'd just been told. Everyone contemplating the impending task ahead of them, silently praying for some form of release. They took seats around the table so that they were sat in a circle, although they knew they were together in this there was still some nervous glances shot towards Paulo, Hex and Alex.

"Li," Hex said and leant forwards, the woman sighed and leant forwards to hear him, "Paulo's just a good guy who did a bad thing for the right reasons." Hex said and the group nodded, it was strange that for a few moments Hex should take charge as they were so quickly falling apart. "Look, at leas there's nothing to hide anymore," he said quickly and before Amber could interrupt him. "But now we have to think about Lily and Eva; we can talk about who says what's right later." Everyone nodded and looked over to Alex.

"We need a plan; you do this for a living." Paulo said. Alex rubbed his eyes in the semi-darkness.

"Thank you." He said to them all before he began to act like his usual self when at work. "Brent?" He didn't wait for an answer, "do you have a mission brief?" He asked and a file was thrown in front of him, they all waited in silence as Alex read to himself. No one else really wanted to know the full details; there was a strange idea that if they knew all of what they were doing, it would just make the deed worse. They simply wanted to know what they were doing and when they could leave. "Alright," Alex put the file down and looked around at them all, "I need T&A results too," he added as an after thought; he knew their skills anyway but just in case they'd changed he'd have to know. These too were given to him by Brent and he skimmed them quickly. He glanced at his watch, "time, 9.46 pm, all present, begin…" his voice trailed away as he looked up and blushed; he'd thought he was back in his office, talking out loud to his secretary who'd write these things down.

"No wonder Lily said you needed a holiday," Li giggled.

"Oh right." He said and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as they all grinned. "Basically," he said quickly, "Paulo you'll deal with transportation, that means no causalities as our medic is out, so Li, try to stay out of trouble." Everyone smiled at her as she pouted. "Hex, inside navigation, Amber, outside navigation." He ticked off their strengths in his head, "Li will be support in field and I…I'll be off field." All of them who tried to keep up with his fast delegation of roles.

"I have no idea what you mean mate." Hex said after five minutes of everyone nodding and saying they understood, "inside navigation?" He looked uneasy and Alex sighed.

"We need to make a shopping list." He concluded and they immediately started to argue about what they needed.

* * *

"Answer it." Amnias whispered to her, his eyes darted to the kitchen door as Matt opened it. Eva was in his arms and put a hand to her mouth; imitating what Amnias was doing to her mother. "I didn't know you were good with kids." He muttered to Matt who shrugged.

"Neither did I." He said and looked to Lily. "What're you doing? We need someone to get the door." Amnias took his hand away from her mouth and she rubbed her shoulder that he had pinned to the wall.

"Get out there," Amnias pushed her into the hallway, "and if they get any inkling that things aren't as they should be…" Lily didn't need to hear the rest; she knew what they'd do if the visitor came in. Lily was surprised to find her front door was back on its hinges and in perfect condition, in fact it looked brand new. She walked to the door and opened it slightly. The sun was falling behind the horizon and so dazzled her for a moment. She finally was able to see three figures stood outside her door. Two men in front, followed by a woman she recognised.

"Mercedes." She said breathlessly and continued to speak in Spanish, "_what are you doing here; you weren't meant to come until tomorrow_." Lily tried on purpose to ignore the two men in front of her; it didn't work and she cursed herself for thinking it would. They were tall and well built; practically obscuring the woman from view.

"_Good evening. Señora Regal says that on her way by she heard some sort of commotion, coming from inside the house," _the first man said in a deep voice that made Lily shiver. Lily shook her head and shrugged.

"_Everything's fine in here Sir." _She smiled at him but they could see from the way she was glancing over her shoulder that she was uneasy. The slightly shorter, more impatient police man licked his lips hurriedly.

"_Well if you're sure," _he began to walk away, "_sorry for-"_

"_Señora," _the younger officer, who probably joined the service because he wanted to actually help, took a step forwards. _"If there is something you want to say but you can't," _he spoke slowly and nodded his head, _"you can just nod and we can help." _It was sweet; he was an enthusiastic guy who wanted to offer help but Lily, being slightly older and a lot wiser knew it was doomed. For the first time in the conversation she allowed the real fear and panic she was feeling show on her face.

"_Look, my husband and I are just having a bad time at the moment," _Mercedes raised an eyebrow; Alex and Lily never fought, at least, not loud enough to be noticed. _"I apologise for disturbing anyone but we're fine. I'm fine." _She added quickly as she could see the young man was more concerned for her. He was about to speak again when Eva ran to the door. Lily risked a glance back and saw Amnias shove Matt to go and get her. The three visitors outside the door smiled at the little girl as she began conversation; her usual nonsensical language meaning nothing to them. _"Time for a nap!" _Lily said quickly for she knew Matt was behind her; if Mercedes saw him what would she think? She picked Eva up, waved the three away from her door and shut it. She leant against the wooden door, closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. She opened them and jumped as she found Matt and Amnias on either side of her. Matt took the same pose as Lily, relaxed but tense after the encounter with the police. Amnias stood at her side, one arm above her head, leaning in so she could feel the heated moisture on his breath.

"You know," he said conversationally as though nothing happened, "you work quite well under pressure. You ever considered working for me?" She stopped leaning against the door and began to walk away.

"I'm putting Eva to bed." She said quickly and heard Amnias grunt with impatience, he pushed Matt again to follow her. Eva's babbling quietened now as she could sense her mother was preparing her to sleep; she looked over Lily's shoulder to Matt and stared at him sleepily. "Are you my shadow now?" Lily asked Matt who'd been having a staring competition with Eva and lost.

"I've just been asked to make sure you don't try anything." They entered Eva's room and Matt took in the unfamiliar sights of a child's room; how long had it been since he'd been home, to his own room? He shook himself out of it; he grew up a long time ago, there was no point looking back. Lily put Eva on the bed and the little girl looked up at Matt. She beckoned him over and after a hesitant moment he obliged. Lily turned around and stood and Eva's cupboard, wondering what it was about Matt that reminded her of Hex. Eva put a book in the boy's hands and he looked over to Lily for some explanation. For the first time since meeting Matt, Lily laughed.

"She wants you to read obviously," Lily took a sideways glance at the book, "El burro que fue muy rápido…the donkey that went too fast." Lily had always found that title amusing but Matt just seemed annoyed by her laughter. He turned to Eva and handed the book back.

"I can't read Spanish." He said simply and was surprised to find that Eva understood him, she rolled her eyes and took the book away from him.

"El burro sabe mas que tu. " The little girl said quietly. "Eva." Her mum said in a warning tone and Eva smiled innocently at her.

"What did she say?" Matt asked Lily who sighed.

"_The donkey knows more than you._" Lily said and began to change Eva's clothes. Matt watched the way Lily acted with her daughter, wondering when the last time was anyone had ever smiled at him. He shook his head again; what was wrong with him? "Goodnight." Lily said and brought him out of his reverie, he saw Eva close her eyes quickly and fall asleep. Lily stood up and watched as Matt looked at her daughter; he was a strange kid, it was like he'd never seen a child up close before. "That really is all she does when she sleeps," Lily whispered, "just breathes, and dreams." She smiled and began to walk out of the room.

"You'd leave _me _in here with her?" Matt asked, surprised by her actions. Lily turned around at the door way and nodded.

"As much as you'd hate for me to say, you remind me of your brother." Matt shook his head and stood up. "How can you be so calm?" He asked; finally annoyed with the woman.

"How can you just stand there and smile at me when your life is in the hands of five people whose lives have been ripped apart by that freak-"

"Don't you know anything?" Lily asked suddenly, "do you have no recollection of love, or friendship, or faith?" She took a few steps towards him and he stood up from Eva's bed. "I know them; they won't care about each other's past; they'll do this." She reached him and put a hand to his cheek, his skin burned beneath her touch, "what don't you understand?" But after a moment she nodded as she understood. "Hex, was always bad with affection because he was locked away in the world of cyberspace," she laughed, "but your excuse is?" He could think of nothing to say. "Did your brother never care for you? Did anyone?" She whispered and could see in Matt's eyes she was breaking him. "You're not use to affection either-"

"Ahem." Lily moved her hand away and lowered her gaze as Amnias cleared his throat by the doorway. Matt looked up to him and jumped back from Lily. "As cute as your psychological torture is Lily," he walked into the room and stood behind her, "I'm afraid we've had a phone call." He looked quickly up to Matt, "we'll talk later." He said and the three of them walked out of the room.

* * *

"Konichiwa Mina-san!" Amnias shouted to the group as they came on screen, his smile faded and he rolled his eyes, "oh it's just you guys."

"Who were you expecting?" Hex asked coldly and Amnias sneered at him.

"Hello Kitty." He grinned at Hex who just shook his head in annoyance. "Anyway guys and dolls, look who's here to see you!" He grabbed lily's arm and forced her to sit on his lap. "Eva's asleep, bless her. But Lily has agreed to stay up for a while." He rested his head on her shoulder and she just rolled her eyes at him. "So Alpha Force, what's your answer to my little proposition." Amber stood up.

"We'll do it," she said and looked down to read off a piece of paper, "and here's what we need…" she began to read and on the other side Matt wrote down their requests. Lily smiled over at them all, glad they had stuck together, and that they had proven her point to Matt. She glanced over to him now and knew what she had to do if she was going to get out of this; Matt was weak. What he thought was a strength; the fact that he felt nothing for other people as people had never felt anything for him, was actually his one weakness. She'd break him, she had to.

* * *

Yeah, not too proud about this chapter but hey, needed to build Matt's character and...whatever XD


	11. She's About to Break

_It sure has been a while!

* * *

__Venice__, 2 days later_

Alpha Force stood on the deck of a boat they had boarded three hours ago, the sun was setting over Venice now and the sky was a whirl of colours. The first few stars of the evening could be seen and there was an atmosphere around Venice that was care free and happy….on the boat the atmosphere was anything but. The only ones on holiday not smiling, but scanning the streets around them, taking in the weak points, finalising their plans. For the past two days they had been formulating a plan to perform their dreaded task, and in a few minutes all that would be put into action. Amber went to sit down next to Hex as he fiddled with a laptop Amnias had given him.

"All good?" She asked and passed him a drink, he didn't look at her; his eyes were fixated on the screen in front of him.

"Hmmm, what?" He said, finally looking at her. She smiled solemnly at him and nodded at the laptop.

"How's that working out for you?" She said and leant back in her chair to gaze at the sky. She felt Hex shuffle next to her, he put the laptop down and lay back too. She almost laughed when he did so; it had taken a while to gain his attention over his precious gadgets.

"Well, even though Amnias is pure evil, he's given us the best equipment." Hex tried his very hardest not to smile as he had been hoping to get his hands on this laptop for a while. Amber's hand brushed his and he held on to it. "You OK?" He asked her, sitting up in concern and looking at her face as she stared blankly at the stars.

"Just a bit," she sat up and leant towards Hex's ear, "worried about Alex." She nodded towards their friend who was stood by the railing of the boat; he'd been quiet all day and the first part of their mission had to be completed that evening. Amber didn't really need to say anymore, Hex knew what she meant; if Alex lost spirit they would all lose their way; it was Alex who'd managed to keep them together over the past few days. It was partly because the desire to see his daughter and wife safe and he was used to doing stuff like this so his knowledge of how to run these missions was reassuring. Hex looked at her and nodded before kissing her. "What was that for?" She asked when they broke apart, Hex shrugged.

"I love you." He said quietly and Amber smiled.

"Love you too." Li overheard Amber say and shivered; the evenings here were getting colder. She almost jumped as she felt someone place a jacket around her; Paulo put a hand on her shoulder and looked out into the distance.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked and Li laughed at him before shaking her head with a sick smile. She wasn't sure what Paulo was referring to; the mission, his past, their relationship, but she was sick of hearing anything from him.

"NO," she said loudly before lowering her voice, "I have nothing to say to you."

"Li-" She finally turned to him in annoyance.

"There are bigger things at stake here than whatever it is you have to say." She said desperately, not entirely sure why she was so upset. "It's not me you should be worried about," she nodded towards Alex and they both sighed. When Paulo said nothing she shrugged off his jacket and as he caught it she walked away to Alex.

"Hey," she said quietly and was worried as it took Alex a moment to respond. He ran a hand wearily through his hair and looked to her.

"Hey Li, what's up? You ready for tonight?" He asked and she put a hand on his shoulder; Alex had taken to talking to them about the mission rather than what was really on his mind.

"Are you OK?" She asked.

"I'm fine," he said although even he knew he didn't sound convincing. There was a moment of silence where the boat passed under a bridge and they were plunged into semi-darkness. "It's time to move." He said quietly and Li looked around for the others. They walked over to them and Alpha Force stood at stern of the boat.

"Hex did you take into account the pause at the bridge?" Alex asked.

"Yeah," Hex said and as he did Alpha took hold of the railing in front of them with one hand.

"It's a shame," Amber said as she smiled to a young boy on the street below them, "It's such a pretty boat." She whispered. They all took their drinks to their lips and paused as though silently praying for everything to go alright, before drinking the rest in one and throwing the glasses to the floor, the sound of breaking glass was the last thing that was heard before it happened.

The bridge behind them seemed to explode, it became engulfed in huge flames that tried to stretch out and touch the sky. Alpha felt the heat against their backs but chose not to look back at the chaos they had caused. The screaming of civilians reached Li's ears and she fought against the desire to cover her ears and block out the sound. She tried not to think something had gone wrong; that someone had been on the bridge or that others had been on the boat. No, Hex had made sure it was OK.

"Go." Alex said and even though it was quiet they all heard it. Paulo, Li and Amber climbed over the railing and jumped off the boat, falling into the cold, murky waters, while Alex and Hex ran to the other side, as close to the fire as they dared get and jumped onto the street. Luckily things were going as they intended; people were being evacuated from the area around the bank. It was a huge, beautiful building built in the Renaissance, 450 people worked there and hopefully they were being evacuated too. This part of Venice is famous for its tunnelling, narrow streets, which lent Alpha cover as Hex and Alex rant through the streets. They were dressed in dark coloured clothes which meant they practically melted into the shadows and went around unnoticed. They needed to get to the back of the bank and this proved easier than they imagined; they had been planning on having to dodge through the streets but they could stroll at ease to the place.

"We getting there any time soon?" Alex whispered impatiently and Hex checked his palmtop, a map of the city shown by a mess of coloured lines.

"We're…" he waited for them to run a few more meters, "here." He almost bumped into Alex who had already, without consulting Hex, begun to work on the door. Hex broke open a control box near the door and began to wire up his palmtop to it, he was hoping he could get into their system and shut down the alarm system and CCTV. If only Alex and Hex had taken the opportunity to glance behind them.

* * *

"Ok, ready?" Paulo asked Amber who nodded vigorously making it hard for Li to secure the camera to her head. "In and out in thirty-five minutes," he muttered and let out a low whistle.

"I can handle it," Amber said confidently and seemed to realise something, "this is going to be just like the training they made me do!" She hissed but she'd been good at that so this should be easy. She hoped.

"Alright girl," Li said looking her in the eye, "don't mess this up." Amber hooked up her microphone and flashed a smile at them both.

"It's Hex I'm worried about." She muttered and lowered herself back into the water. Li and Paulo watched her swim away before she became engulfed by the darkness, as they walked away they jumped behind a building at the sight of headlights and the sound of an approaching car. Paulo pushed Li into a small alcove to hide and when he entered they found they were squashed together. There were a few moments of terror as they heard the sound of a police siren and they stared intently into each others eyes, breathing heavily, desperately trying not to be found. If they were found Amber would be stranded in the waters. The siren became quieter, the flash of the headlights dimmer and the sound of the engine slowly disappeared. Paulo looked to Li and smiled in a _that-was-a-close-one _way but was shocked to find Li was not laughing but tears had entered her eyes and her breathing was still fast. Perhaps she was in shock?

"Li, it's Ok," Paulo said and put a hand to her face, "I'll give you some space," he said but Li took a hold of his shirt and pulled him close, shaking her head as she did so. "Li, what's the-"

"I did," it was difficult to make out the words for she had begun to sob, Paulo was so shocked by this sudden change in mood that he had no idea what to do or say, "something." She said quickly but tears were spilling fast.

"Li-"

"Listen!" She almost shouted, "I'm sorry," she said and fell into his arms, "I'm so sorry." She whispered again, Paulo put his arms around her and held her tight.

"What's there to be sorry about; I deserve to be treated like crap-"

"No you don't!" Li shouted and hit his chest; "I should be the one…" she dissolved into tears again but after a few minutes she forced herself to calm down and moved away from him. She tried to look him in the eye but couldn't so looked to the floor. "When Amnias was spilling secrets," she said quickly, "he didn't say mine-"

"Li, you don't have to explain yourself to me-"

"But it was yours too!" She muttered and slid down the wall. Paulo, as best as he could in the small space, knelt next to her,

"What was mine?" He asked and she shook her head, her bottom lip shook and she began to cry again.

"I couldn't…didn't have a choice…you weren't there!" She muttered incoherently.

"Li!" Paulo said urgently, finally distressed about the clear anguish Li was feeling. He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "_What was mine?" _He whispered again. Li stared at a spot behind him and he could see the battle going on behind her eyes, a secret she'd kept for years wasn't being hidden anymore. She looked Paulo in the eye and it almost hurt him as much as she was hurting, to see that she was about to break. Li's lips quivered again before her head slumped forwards into her hands.

"Baby." She whispered.

* * *

Oh dear, not too nice an ending to a chapter eh?

Not much action either, there will be some next chapter, and gun play, 'cause we like guns right guys?

OH IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK.

Missed writing for Alpha. Wait. Why the hell am I writing so much at the end of a chapter? It's you lot who should be writing reviews XD

See you next chapter!


	12. Don't Mess With Mummy

**OK, here we go again- thanks everyone for your reviews so far! **

* * *

"What're you most scared of?"

"Not knowing where my daughter is."

"Before Eva," Matt leant forwards, across the table towards Lily, "when were you most scared?" He asked the woman and she took a moment before laughing and shaking her head; it was the first time Matt had seen Lily laugh in a while. She picked up her drink and drained it in one. "What?" Matt asked, smiling too as she continued to laugh.

"It was meeting Alex's parents," she said her eyes glazed over in reminisce. "You want some advice kid?" She looked over to Matt who nodded. "Never, ever, ever" she shook her head as she said each word, "listen to Alex's advice; in fact do the opposite!" She said quickly. "Idiot." She muttered under her breath.

"Why what happened?" Matt asked, signalling to the barmaid for another drink.

"Alex told me to tell the truth..." She looked up and Matt gave her a _what's-so-bad-about-that _look. "That was not the way to go!" She said with a slight laugh. "The conversation basically went; hello, I'm Lily, my dad's a drug dealer and is currently in a Peruvian prison, I see my mother once every few years whenever she remembers me so don't expect a Christmas card. I studied Physiology at Oxford University which really was a waste of time because half way through the course I was arrested for aiding the escape of a political prisoner in Kuwait. It was an accident," she added as she saw the impressed look on Matt's face. "I'm sorry about that time I snuck into Alex's room and was..." she searched for the right words, "really LOUD." She said pointedly, "Erm, I love your son and I hope you love me." She smiled at put her thumbs up at Matt who stared at her before dissolving into laughter. "Yeah," she said in a bored voice, watching him slip down his chair, "you should've seen Alex's reaction." She commented before the humour left her and she found herself wondering where Amnias had taken her daughter.

"Well they must've liked you," he said after a while, "considering you did marry Alex." Lily smiled and nodded.

"Let me go Matt." She said suddenly and the smile was wiped off Matt's face instantly.

"What?" An hour ago they'd all arrived in Venice, Amnias had taken Eva somewhere and told Matt to keep an eye on Lily. Amnias had taken them to a hotel and right now Matt and Lily were sat in the restaurant that was on the roof.

"Let me go to my daughter." She said sternly. "And you can tell Amnias something else happened; you lost sight of me as this place burnt."

"This place...?" His voice faded as from underneath her dress, one which Amnias had chosen specifically for her to wear to dinner, she removed a match box. Matt laughed, "You really think a little box of matches will make this whole place go down?" But again his smile faded as Lily reached across the table, grabbed the bottle of wine from beside Matt, took her napkin and forced it into the bottle, making sure the end of the napkin was wet.

"You ever heard of a Molotov cocktail?" She asked and put the bottle in front of her, Matt swallowed hard. He'd heard of them; a civilian developed bomb was the basic gist. "You know how I said it was an accident, the Kuwait incident?" Matt nodded, "it wasn't." She said quietly and put the matchbox on the table next to the bottle of wine. "Have you figured it out yet Matt?" She asked with a sick smile, "Amnias said we all have secrets; have you guessed mine?" She pushed her chair back so it screeched against the floor, luckily the restaurant was so busy no one heard. Matt thought about it, about what her secret could be before he shook his head. "It's your choice," she said and nodded to the bottle, "let me walk away freely and no one gets hurt, make a scene and..." she nodded to the wall opposite and Matt saw, running along every wall in the restaurant was a shelf of lined up bottles of alcohol; if the cocktail hit that this place would explode before anyone had time to blink. "Your brother loves you," Lily said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. "He wants you back on our side-"

"You don't know that-"

"I know Hex." She said quietly and stood up. "Goodbye Matt." He watched her as she walked out of the restaurant. In the end he never gave her consent to leave but there was something about the woman, about her confidence that she made her almost seductive when it came to getting her way. And just like that, Matt had figured it out.

* * *

"Baby?" Paulo whispered to her, still unsure if she was speaking sense. "Are you calling me baby or...?" He muttered incoherently, he knew what she was trying to say but he just couldn't accept it. Li wiped her eyes and sat up straight before clearing her throat.

"I got pregnant." She said bluntly, "I was three weeks into my pregnancy when I waited for you at the train station." Her bottom lip trembled as the news began to sink into him. "And you didn't come." She said through a sob, "I didn't want to do it alone!" She said desperately. "I terminated the baby." She said softly.

"You had an abortion?" Paulo said and Li was shocked; usually when she was upset Paulo would always cheer her up but for the first time in seven years he sounded angry. She nodded. "Didn't I get a say?" He demanded an answer by shaking her shoulders. "That was my kid too right?" Again she nodded. "Then why didn't you ring-"

"Why didn't you show up?!" She shouted back. "I loved you," she sobbed but Paulo wouldn't let her play the innocent card, he shook her shoulders again to force her to look at him. "And you said you loved me but you didn't show-"

"That's no excuse!" He shouted at her and stood up. "When it's between me and you it's OK to be immature, to be scared, but when there's a kid involved..._our _kid-"

"Scared?!" Li said and stood up too, "you have no idea what it means to be scared!" She shouted. "I couldn't go through it alone, not since mum and dad died-"

"Guys I'm in the basement of the bank...GUYS!? HELLO?!" They heard Amber's shouts from the radio outside the alley and took one last look at each other.

"We'll talk later." Paulo said, Li nodded and they moved out of the alleyway. It took a moment for Paulo to realise the sounds behind him were quiet screams from Li as the man pressed a knife against her throat.

* * *

Alex heard the car before he saw it but it was too late; the two of them were caught in the lights flooding from the headlamps. They both shielded their eyes against the glare and the car reversed so it could pull up alongside them. Alex swore softly; how could he have let this happen? He was sure no one was around. He felt Hex untie any connections in the wiring that he had made and they both turned to the car; there was no use running now. The passenger door opened. A sense of relief, shock and anger went through both the men as they saw Amnias looking at them from his seat. Alex took a step forwards as he saw sat in Amnias' lap and playing happily with a teddy bear, was Eva.

"I take it you want to say hello to her?" Amnias said and right now Alex couldn't care less if he were in the middle of Venice about to rob this bank, or that Amnias was a potential murderer, he just knew he wanted his daughter back. Alex nodded; he knew not to make any sudden movements with Brad since his mind broke. Eva looked up from her toy and saw Alex.

"Daddy!" She squealed and dropped the teddy bear before holding her arms out for Alex to pick her up. Alex walked forwards and even Amnias' eyes softened as he saw the look on Alex's face. Eva tried to push Amnias' arms away from her as Alex approached the car. "_DADDY!" _She said a little more desperately and her bottom lip trembled as she was about to cry but Alex reached her and took her out of his enemy's arms.

"Eva." Alex said calmly as he took her and held her close. He'd missed her baby smell, her hugs and for the first time in a while Alex found himself blinking away tears as Eva buried her face in his shirt, something she did when she wanted to sleep. He kissed her forehead and when she looked up at him she looked so much like Lily Alex had realised he'd forgotten about his wife. "Lily?" He said, addressing Amnias for the first time.

"Matt has her." He replied and this time Hex took a step forwards, "don't worry you can have words with him later." Amnias added as Hex's eyes narrowed. "I just thought you two may need a little incentive to keep going." He smiled at them. "Now Alex, if you wouldn't mind giving-"

"You're lucky you thought to bring Eva with you." Alex said scathingly, "if she weren't here you'd be dead by now." Amnias smiled as he said this. Eva seemed to notice Hex and over her father's shoulder she began to converse in a language only she understood.

"Amur!" She shouted to him and he smiled at her.

"How is Lily?" Alex said.

"She's a lot of trouble," Amnias said and for some strange reason they were talking like how they used to talk, when they were friends. "One thing I've learnt; don't mess with mummy." Alex laughed; Lily was just like that when it came to their daughter. Another car pulled up behind this one and Alex and Hex looked at each other uneasily. "That car is for you two." He said slowly and they looked back at him.

"What do you mean?" Hex said and Amnias rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner.

"I mean get in." Amnias said quickly.

"What about the bank?" Alex said, gesturing back to it, as he did he realised Eva had fallen asleep.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news," Amnias looked downwards and shook his head dramatically.

"What bad news?" Hex asked, taking a step forwards again so he was in line with Alex.

"What do you know of _The Devil's Backbone?" _Amnias asked and Hex and Alex shrugged, the madman laughed loudly and they all became aware of the sounds of fire engines' sirens in the distance, preparing to put out the fire they had created. "Well, I've changed my mind; I don't want money-"

"After all the trouble...?!" Hex began but was quietened by the maddened look Amnias gave him.

"I don't quite think you get the position you're in." Amnias said in a deadly whisper, "I have your wife and child," he nodded to Alex, "and now I have your beloved Amber." Hex and Alex's eyes widened, "you really thought splitting up was a good idea?" He laughed. "No, no no!" He shouted. "I want to see you all break." He muttered, "the real games are beginning, get in the next car." He shouted at them and Hex moved off but when Alex went to the car Amnias held out an arm to beckon him back. "Give her to me-"

"Brad-"

"I have Lily; Eva will be fine with her." Amnias urged and Alex finally gave in. He handed Eva back into Amnias' arms and it killed him to think that Eva's heart would break when she woke to find this insane man looking over her. Alex took one look at her again and was walking off again when Amnias shouted back. "One quick question Alex!" He leant out of the car with Eva in his arms and Alex turned back to him. "Do you reckon Eva looks like me?" He asked and with a laugh shut the door so they car could move off, leaving a stunned Alex in his wake.

* * *

**You know what's annoying about this story? Things are happening but nothing's moving. Do you get what I mean people?!**

**Also, I will give a cookie to anyone who can guess Lily's secret! You'll never get it cause it's kinda crazy but WHATEVER!**

**Review if you like!**


	13. Coffee at Green Park

**here's a nice little break away from the major story line!**

* * *

-5 years ago-

Alex had always found it strange, the Underground. When he was younger and he'd learnt about the horrors of World War II and how, during the Blitz, people had taken shelter here…it had seemed pretty cool. But now, on his first day of work, he had to admit the place had lost its magic. Now longer was he romanced by the ghosts he though lived here; when his father had first taken him to the Natural History Museum he was sure ghosts of children must haunt this place but now that dream was dead. It was busy, hot and the overwhelming smell of perspiration in the added summer heat was a bit too overbearing. He had his briefcase in his right and was sending a text message on his mobile phone to his secretary; he'd forgotten files on his desk that needed clearing away and he knew she'd take care of it. Claire was her name and over time he'd found he was quite taken with her. Of course he'd only ever met her at induction meetings that lasted the whole day but now he was going to work with her and see her everyday. First she'd been cold with him, she was three years older and found it annoying to have such a young man in such a top position. Everyone at the office had thought he'd be arrogant but he proved he was just hard working and eventually the mornings of stony silences turned to long coffee breaks and talks of nothing important. He looked up from his mobile and checked the board in front of him; Bakerloo line, Northbound (A/N: I got my mini tube map out to check that! Everyone be thankful I care! BE THANKFUL DAMNIT!)…yeah, he was on the right track. He'd only come this way three times but his natural knack for direction meant he could just let his feet take him there. He looked back at the text he was writing and debated whether or not he should ask Claire to-

"Oh, sorry!" A voice said and made him look up; he instinctively went to grab the files that dropped out of her arms. They almost hit the floor when he picked them up but already papers had flown out and were scattered about the place. The figure next to him dropped to their knees and began to pick them up, he looked up at her.

"Here you go," he said with a smile as he held up the file. She took a moment to gather papers and when she looked up at him he dropped the file in surprise. She too dropped the papers and many people stared as they walked by; for the two of them were on their knees in the busy underground station at Green Park. He knew it was her; her eyes hadn't changed at all. "Lily." He said rather breathlessly and she looked him up and down before smiling.

"Alex!" She exclaimed before embracing him, it was strange; both had grown taller but she still fit into his embrace the same way she used to. As he held her, over her shoulder he looked to his phone and deleted the text he was about to send.

"Maybe we should get up off the floor." He said and she became flustered as she realised she had hugged him for longer than necessary.

"Oh, yeah." She muttered and stood up. He handed over her file and she slipped the papers inside. "You've…changed." She said with a wry smile; physically he'd changed; more muscular than when they were teenagers after a few years of serving with the SAS and his hair was a bit longer than before. He looked like an adult.

"So have you!" He exclaimed and walked around her, looking at every aspect to see exactly how she'd changed. He was going to be late for work if he didn't hurry up, but now a battle was going on in his head; he hadn't seen Lily for years, they'd lost contact. And he had to admit, she'd only changed in good ways; she'd lost her prettiness but it was replaced with a beauty more elegant than he remembered. She was a woman; that was it, that's how she'd changed!

"Where're you headed?" She asked him and laughed as he continued to look at her with such amazement.

"Oh, to work-"

"You're working already?" She said and they moved to the side to let many people passed and found that they were shoved very close together. At least it's not in a cupboard this time, Alex thought. The privacy would've been better though, Lily smiled at him.

"Yeah, with the SAS." He replied.

"You dress pretty smart for a soldier." She commented on his suit and he blushed.

"You want to get coffee?" He asked suddenly and Lily looked at him with earnest; should she? Was he worth it? In all honesty she wanted to go but she knew she had commitments elsewhere. Screw it.

"Yeah sure!" She said brightly and they walked away together, conversing about anything and everything they liked. They reached a small café outside the train station and went to sit down; both fascinated about how far each other's lives had moved on.

"Physiology?" Alex laughed, "you were always such a geek-"

"No I wasn't!" Lily protested but she knew he was right.

"I'm sorry, who was it that got straight A's in her GCSEs and went to that science summer camp thing at Imperial Uni-"

"Woah, woah, woah." Lily put up a warning finger. "I didn't want to go to that; I won the place in a competition." She said smugly and put her hands around her coffee mug. Alex laughed again.

"And what kind of competition was it?" He asked; he remembered the moment she'd won, he was there and so were Alpha, they teased her for weeks about it. Lily looked to her shoes and said something quietly. "Sorry what?" Alex said as he couldn't hear her.

"Science competition," she muttered feebly and then began laughing too. After a minute their laughter subsided and they merely looked at each other from across the table. Alex reached forwards and put a hand on hers.

"I've missed you." Was all he said and she smiled.

"I've missed you." She replied quietly.

"I'm also late for work." He said suddenly as he caught a glimpse of his watch and jumped up from the table. Lily shrugged.

"I was on my way home anyway." She said and stood up. They exchanged numbers and then stood, unsure of how to say goodbye. Lily moved forwards and kissed Alex's cheek, "bye, it was good to see you again." Alex stood for a moment, slightly paralysed by her action but then cursed him immaturity as she laughed at him. "Well, get going!" She said and he smiled; it's what she used to say whenever he was called away by Alpha, it was strange that even though they'd split up last year their traditions stayed with him. "You're going to be really late!" She urged him and he smiled before moving away.

"I'll call you later!" She smiled; he always used to say that. Lily sat back down and watched him walk away. She leant against the wall behind her and sighed; was he always that good looking? Somehow she doubted it, or she would've stayed with him longer. Her thoughts were interrupted as the person sat on the table next to her put down the newspaper he was reading. He looked across to her and lit a cigarette as she appraised him out of the corner of her eye.

"So...what's he like?" His voice was harsh and as he exhaled all the cigarette smoke was blown into Lily's face and she began to cough.

"Jesus, Brad." She said as she put a hand on her mouth. "Do that somewhere else." The man laughed and anyone watching wouldn't be able to tell they were having a conversation; they'd become so skilled at this recently.

"So what's he like?" The man repeated and Lily sighed.

"_This _is the guy taking over Special ops?" She laughed, "We're in trouble." She drank the rest of her coffee. It was cold. Brad smiled.

"Why's that?"

"Because, he's so naive- just like he was a few years ago-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Amnias said in defence of his friend, "Alex is wicked-smart! And his experiences with me and the SAS have really toughened him up." He man said and smirked as Lily shook her head. "You're just saying that to hide how you feel." Lily was shocked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked quickly.

"You still," he held up a hand and put his index finger and thumb close together, "a teeny, weeny, ickle bit love him don't you?" Lily shook her head but he could tell she was doing it as a gesture to show how irrelevant the question was. "Well then you think he's hot-"

"Oh, come on, let's be adults-"

"I'm just saying!" He said and put his hands up to signal surrender. "If a girl looked at me like that I sure as hell wouldn't walk away from her." He muttered and leant over to her, "you can tell me Lily, we're buddies!" Lily glance at him and rolled her eyes.

"I'm telling you to shut the hell up; we're here for work, let's just do that!" She said and turned away. Amnias got up and walked round the table; he came and sat next to her. He took her hand and again Lily rolled her eyes.

"It's alright Lily; you can like whoever the hell you want, just don't let it jeopardise your work. Sometimes it can be an advantage." He said sternly and Lily knew that whenever Amnias used this voice he was being completely serious for once.

"I won't." She said adamantly. "Now, let's talk Alex's first mission, what's it gonna be?" She leant back in her chair in her usual lazy way and waited for Brad to bring out the documents.

"You reckon, he'll ever find out?" Brad asked as he put the files in front of him and Lily.

"Find out about what...me?" He nodded at her and she shook her head. "He can't...he just can't."

* * *

**Well I guess no one really saw that coming did they? But I didn't explain much- i like to keep you in suspense! All you know is that they used to work together!**

**Reviews appreciated! As are muffins...damn, I'm hungry!**


	14. The Mentally Deranged

**Ok fellow AF fans, I want to announce…**

**I, That Valentine Kid, will FINISH The Devil's Backbone in the next 10 days.**

**Because I need to revise for my January exams and I'd quite like to get into university :D **

**So, let's continue.

* * *

**"Paulo!" He heard his name being called but didn't really want to respond; he had the worst head ache that could've possibly been the worst head ache in the history of head aches. Even that thought made his head spin. "Paulo!" There it was, that desperate call again; why couldn't Alex shut up? He was always such a morning guy- first one up and out all the time. Well Paulo wasn't going to get up this time. Alex could just wait. "PAULO!"

"Leave me alone," he muttered and turned on his side, "I'm trying to sleep." It took him a second to realise that his bed wasn't as comfortable as he thought it was. In fact it felt almost as if he was lying on a cold, damp stone floor. Oh, he opened his eyes; he was lying on a cold, damp stone floor. His vision was blurred and he was just looking down at the floor with a dazed expression; what was going on? "Alex!" He called out and the word came out as though he hadn't spoken in years; hoarse and barely recognisable. What was gong on?

"Paulo, can you stand?" He tried, but that wasn't Alex's voice. It was Hex's. Why did they have to confuse him by shouting in the same conversation? Does that even make sense? He didn't think so either. Slowly he stood, feeling came back to his bones and muscles. As did memories of what happened. His vision became clearer as he remembered; someone had taken Li. Captured her, he'd put up a fight but they nearly cracked his skull. He put a hand behind his head and felt his hair was matted with blood.

"Where…where are you guys?" He called out and finally got a good look of the room. It wasn't a room really; it was a hall, huge and grand. He was stood in the middle, underneath a giant crystal chandelier. The room was partially in darkness if it weren't for randomly arranged, lit candles around the place. At the front were a stage and a single chair. There was something odd about the scene though. Luckily all his years with Alpha Force had taught him to take in every detail. He was in Venice, he remembered that, that's why the décor was reminiscent of this place…in the 18th Century. Meaning it was an old building, resulting in fragile infrastructure. Not good. Ah, now he'd figured out what was wrong; everything in the room looked old and damp as though washed too many times but not dried. Everything except the single chair on the stage. That was fairly modern meaning another thing; he was not alone. The walls were so tall, with broken mirrors and pictures; how could a place so beautiful go so unnoticed?

"I'm over here!" Alex shouted and Paulo looked to his right. There was a door in the wall, Alex was barred into another room. He waved at Paulo who raised a still, slightly shaking hand, in acknowledgement.

"And I'm here!" Hex called form the opposite side and Paulo turned left. Hex was in exactly the same situation as Alex. They were all separated by barred doors. He ran over to Hex first.

"They took Li!" He shouted as he ran and reached Hex before trying to push the door open.

"It's no use mate," Hex said grimly, "they've got Amber too." Paulo shook his head before running to Alex's side which, on account of the size of the hall, took a good 40 seconds which was just 40 seconds wasted and it frustrated him; he needed to find Li. And now Amber too! He reached Alex and again tried in vain to get the door open.

"Relax," Alex said coolly, "he's got Lily and Eva still, which can only mean a few things." The look on Alex's face said it all and Paulo reached an arm through the bars to embrace him. It surprised Alex but he gripped back with equal force. "Err, Paulo, these bars hurt a bit." He whispered and Paulo released him. He turned to face Hex and slipped down the wall by Alex's door into a sitting position. He looked up before the other two saw the look on his face and followed his gaze; Alex gasped. "Fuck it." Alex cried and kicked the bottom on the door in front of him.

"What, I don't see it!" Hex called.

"You were wondering where we are, why this place is abandoned and all that?" He thought he saw Hex nod. "Well we're underground; no one looks after this place because when the tide comes in this place floods…we'll drown." He finished before running a hand through his hair wearily.

"How do you know that?" Hex asked and Alex pointed up.

"Look to the walls; there's a darkened line there, indicating where the water fills this place." Hex looked up and indeed he saw the difference in colour between the higher parts of the wall and beneath it.

"Damn." Was all Hex said and the other's smiled. "We're going to drown?" He said uncertainly and Alex shook his head as Paulo looked up at him for some reassurance.

"Not if we get out."

"And how do you expect that will happen?" Paulo asked and put his head in his hands.

"Amnias is a bad guy," Alex said plainly, "bad guys don't just leave you to die, they come and either give you a challenge that's almost impossible, I'm guessing it's got something to do with the girls. Or, he'll talk about how rubbish we all are…and then we drown." They all found it weird that they smiled at this but their smiles faded as they heard clapping. They all looked to the stage at the front of Paulo's room.

"Wonderfully put Alex!" Amnias shouted as he entered with his group. "_The bad guy," _he chuckled to himself, "not quite how I would've put it-"

"How else would you have said it?" Paulo asked and stood up.

"The mentally deranged?" Hex suggested. The three of them laughed but not as much as Amnias. He was getting into his chair and practically fell down.

"Ow, ow," he said clutching his stomach, "that was funny/." He said but was suddenly serious. "But Alex was right. I've come with a challenge," he said as he sat down and got comfortable in his chair; his men arranged themselves to stand at his side. There were two of them; Alex, Paulo and Hex figured they could've taken them. "Now I asked Hex and Alex if they'd ever heard of The Devil's backbone?" He looked at them both, squinting almost as they were so far away. "Oh this is useless; bring them to me." He addressed his men. One was a rather large man with dark skin, he wore a leather jacket and sunglasses, he would've been intimidating to Alex perhaps, had he not been so comical looking. He reached Alex's cell and used a key to open the lock. Paulo merely stared up at him with distaste until a small, skinny, pale man with a few scratches above his left eye, approached him and grabbed his arm. Hoisting him up and practically dragging him to be in front of Amnias. Alex's door opened and he debated tackling the man but decided against it; it was too risky seeing as Amnias still had the girls. Alex was also dragged up to Amnias where they met Hex; pulled along by the skinny man that brought Paulo. They all stood in a line, waiting to be addressed by Amnias. "So anyways, like I was saying," Amnias thought for a moment.

"Where's Li?" Paulo shouted and was silenced as the large man's dark hand struck the back of Paulo's head. His vision blurred again; he's taken too many hits to the head in such a short space of time.

"Thank you Ken," Amnias said to the man, now named Ken who smiled in return, revealing his one gold tooth. "Do any of you know what The Devil's Backbone is?" He shouted at them and they all shook their heads. "Well then I'll show you!" He cried excitedly and ran to the back of the stage. He emerged a few moments later, pulling along what looked like a black board. On the board was a map of this part of Venice. And in big bold letters, underneath a street highlighted in red, were the words: _The Devil's Backbone. _

"It's a street?" Alex asked quickly; his mind was already trying to figure things out.

"Yep!" Amnias shouted and jumped back into his chair like an excited child. He took out a silver pointer and pointed to the most southern building in the streets. "This is where we are," he moved the pointed further up, "Here," he moved the pointer down a little further, "is Amber," a smaller building than the one they were in. He pointed to another building further North, "Li is here." Then he pointed to a house that, on the map looked like it was on the edge of nothingness. It was water. "And here is Eva and Lily. With Matt!" He said happily and enjoyed the moment that passed between Alex and Hex; Alex looked at his friend uncertainly and Hex avoided his eyes. Amnias made a mental note to play on this later. "So this," he ran the pointer down the street, "is the Devil's Backbone as Alex so quickly discovered... La Spina Dorsale del Diavolo." He whispered the Italian name for added effect. "It is called so because each house is connected, like how spine's are connected by facet joints. But everyone knows bones can get broken." He paused dramatically and towered above the five people gathered in front of him. "Now no one lives in these places because every day the tide fills half the house! So in a few hours the house nearer the water will fill-"

"Eva!" They all shouted and Amnias looked surprised and a little impressed.

"Well, not as dumb as you all look." He said and nodded at them, "yes, each house will flood, on after the other!" He laughed. "But!" He held up a hand to stop them shouting at him. "There's another little thing; you have to get them all out, racing against water and fire." They all exchanged glances.

"We knew you were nuts Brad," Alex said to him, "but-" The man beside Alex punched him in the stomach at Amnias' nod and Alex doubled up. After a minute of trying to get his breath back, for the wind had been knocked out of him, he stood straight. "Right, fire and water. You were saying?" He addressed Amnias who smiled at him.

"When each building is filled half way, a device will initiate an explosion; destroying the building and part of the neighbouring buildings. It will cause a fire to spread through the town quickly and also trap anyone who was too slow to get out." He laughed again. "Take that for an evil plan!" He shouted in triumph. There was no reaction from his audience. He had expected applause.

"You're a monster." Paulo said simply as the man almost jumped up and down in excitement.

"But at least I'm good looking." He winked at Paulo who merely grimaced. But his statement had reminded Alex of what he had said earlier.

"Why're you doing this?" Hex asked and Amnias shook his head.

"I just want to torture Alex a fraction of what I'm feeling." He said and looked to the man who avoided his eye. "And I know that it hurts so much...seeing the people you love in pain." He said quietly.

"Leave them out of this Amnias!" Alex finally screamed at him. "They've got nothing to do with-"

"THEY HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT!" Amnias screamed and moved close to Alex. Alex tried to take a step back but the man at his side held him steady and Amnias came closer, grabbing his hair to force his head up to look him in the eye.

"YOU SHOULD DEAL WITH THE _ONE _PERSON WHO DID THIS TO YOU!" Alex's throat was beginning to hurt as Amnias' hand moved from his hair to his throat. Hex and Paulo moved forwards but the skinny man held Hex back and the man holding Alex merely pushed Paulo and he fell to the floor. He didn't get back up.

"SHUT-"

"Alex is right," a voice spoke from behind Amnias, "you should take it out on that one person." Lily walked out of the shadows, a gun raised to Amnias' chest. "So here I am."

* * *

**Oh dear. Lily's not as innocent as we once thought. **

**Thanks for the wuv!**


	15. Cookies from a Girl Called Death

"Lily?" Amnias looked from her to Alex and back again, evidently thinking they had been plotting something but that couldn't be; he had had Lily all to himself for the past few days. There was no way they could be in on something. "Why aren't you with Matt and Eva?" For once the crazily over confident man was lost for words.

"I left Eva with Matt," she looked over at Hex and Alex and there was something reassuring in her gaze that meant both Matt and Eva were fine. "Your brother's playing a game even he doesn't understand," Lily addressed Hex, "you weren't a good brother to him." She spoke plainly and looked away for a moment as Hex's face saddened. Hex would have retaliated had it not been for the simple fact that what Lily said was true. "You need to win him back," she said quickly, "it'll be easy; he's been wanting to get back on our side for a while." She smiled but Amnias moved, hardly an inch, and she had her gun pointed back to him in an instant.

"Lily," Alex said; it had been so long since he'd seen her he really didn't want to ask her this question but he knew he had to. "What do you mean…you suggested you were the one who handed Amnias over?" Lily's eyes began to tear up as she heard the almost pleading, desperate tone Alex used, but she couldn't lie to him anymore.

"I didn't suggest it," she replied, "I confirmed it." Amnias looked at her with scrutiny.

"You liar!" Amnias shouted at her, "you didn't….you couldn't have…." He took steps away from her as if she were insane before he stopped and thought about it. "Well actually I suppose you could have." He muttered to himself. "Explain!" He just shouted the one word at her and she sighed, she also lowered her gun.

"What's happened to Paulo?" She asked as she looked to the floor.

"Damn!" Hex and Alex shouted before kneeling down to him.

"Paulo, can you hear me?" Hex asked as Alex pulled the man up into a sitting position. Paulo nodded with a groan.

"But I want to hear Lily more." He croaked and they all looked back up to her.

"I work with MI5," she said simply and Alex's hands dropped from Paulo's shoulders and he stood up, leaving Hex to hold up their friend.

"You're a spy?" Alex asked and shook his head.

"No, no she's not." Amnias said and for the first time since they'd met him he seemed sane. "I know this part of the story," he said quickly, "Lily is a _shadow._" He looked at her and she could see from the way his eyes danced around her frame that he was reaching the conclusion. Alex laughed in disbelief and shook his head at them both.

"Shadows don't exist; they're a joke!" He said and gestured to Lily, "Please tell me this is a joke." She shook her head.

"A few years ago I was recruited as a shadow but they had no target for me so I waited, carried on with my degree-"

"Will someone explain what a shadow is first?!" Paulo shouted at them and they all jumped.

"A shadow is supposedly someone who follows a member of the Ministry of Defence, known as their _target_, and makes sure they don't get killed, that their missions run smoothly, that their friends aren't their enemies." Alex explained but Hex raised an eyebrow at him as he had talked in a sceptical tone. "They don't exist!" He protested. "They were a violation of human rights so were abolished-"

"Alex you work for the Ministry of Defence, they could make you believe Gordon Brown is really an alien if they wanted to." Amnias interjected. "Shadows exist, I know because I dated one before she got her target." He muttered and this time even Hex gasped.

"Wait," he said and held up a hand to signal the conversation to stop for a moment, "you two," he pointed to Amnias and Lily, "_dated?" _He said the word as if it were the most disgusting thing he'd ever heard. Lily nodded.

"I was dating Brad, training and finishing my degree when I was told a new kid at joined us," she nodded to Alex and smiled suddenly. "I couldn't believe it when I heard it was you!" She laughed. "So Brad, your colleague, was assigned to help me out for a while because I was pretty new to it too." Alex looked to Amnias who smiled guiltily. "But then something happened that I didn't think would happen-"

"What?!" Everyone shouted at her and she jumped.

"I fell in love with you." She said to Alex and looked away.

"Awwwwwwwwww." Amnias said to fill the silence, Lily cleared her throat.

"So Amnias and I broke up, went our separate ways." She shrugged. "And I went with you on all your missions without you knowing, making sure everything went according to plan." Alex looked to the floor, working everything out.

"So that means," he said slowly, "my first mission you were-"

"Second sniper on your left." She said with equal slowness, trying to remember.

"When I was in Brussels?"

"Taxi driver." She smiled at him; she'd driven him everywhere and he hadn't even noticed.

"So missions that went horribly wrong but turned out fine, that was because of you?" Hex asked for Alex, Lily nodded.

"First one of those cases was Kuwait-"

"We got the wrong guy at first," Alex commented and Lily nodded again.

"But I captured him back from you and gave you the right one," she said and smiled slightly guiltily.

"So all this time," Alex didn't even know how to put it, "when I came home and you were just," he thought of the most mundane activity Lily did, "cleaning the house, cooking dinner-"

"Mere moments before you walked through the door I was on the phone to HQ," she muttered, "talking of you to whoever I needed to report back to."

"So when you were making cookies-"

"I bought the cookies on my way back-"

"But I _love _your cookies!"

"I think we've strayed a little off topic," Amnias said quietly and Lily and Alex were silenced.

"The mission with him," Alex jerked his head in Amnias' direction, evidently he disliked him more after finding out about Lily's relationship with him, "what did you do?" There was a moment of silence.

"I was in the field too, looking after things." Lily took a breath before walking towards Alex quickly, "you were an idiot, foolish, naïve- whatever the hell you want to call it- but the truth is you shouldn't have ordered that mission to go ahead!" She shouted at him, "it wasn't planned and you were stupid!" She said, "I _had _to give away Brad's position to the other side if I was going to save you!" Lily shook her head.

"Was it a difficult decision to make?" Alex asked and there was something sinister in his voice that made Lily think before answering.

"Of course it was; this was someone's life!" She said exasperatedly, "what do you mean?" She asked because she noticed Alex's sick smile.

"I've heard of shadows," he muttered, "I thought they didn't exist but I know how they play. They follow you, get as close to you as they possibly can but you know what's the worst part about it?" Lily shook her head, "it's all an act, they could be your best friend, you wouldn't know their your shadow, but they could hate your guts. They could say they love you but not mean it-"

"You better not be saying what I think you're saying." Lily whispered dangerously and Alex's blue eyes looked up at her.

"You were still in love with him weren't you?" Alex pointed to Amnias who looked just as surprised as everyone else. "When we married?" Lily looked away ashamedly.

"Yes," she admitted, "I was. But-"

"Lily," Alex said seriously, "do you think Eva looks like me?" He didn't even have time to blink before the back of Lily's hand met his face. He stumbled back in surprise.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!?" Lily shouted at him and advanced. Hex had helped Paulo up finally and took a step between Lily and Alex.

"Is Eva mine?!" Alex shouted back and for the first time in what seemed like forever; Lily finally let her feelings show. Tears crept out of her eyes and she shook her head at him, fighting down the desire to hit him again.

"Have you seen," Lily whispered, "her eyes?" She looked up to Alex as though it were _he _who had betrayed _her_. "No one else, I have ever met, has eyes like yours Alex." She wiped away tears hurriedly. "So what, you think that because I'm a shadow my feelings for you aren't real?" She asked scathingly and now Alex was too ashamed to look at her. "You really need to shut up." She concluded. "And now, you don't even know what it means, what I'm going to suffer for telling you this-"

"What?" Alex asked quickly and looked back at her but now it seemed as though Lily was regretting what she had said. Amnias put a hand on her shoulder and addressed Alex.

"Usually shadows do end up in a relationship of extreme intimacy, perhaps in a romantic or non-romantic way, with their target." Amnias shook his head and remained silent for a moment, "but if their true mission is ever found out by their target then…the shadow must leave the target's life completely, never to be seen or heard from immediately." He finished and sighed. "Tough break." He said to Lily.

"Is that," Alex pushed Hex aside softly and went straight up to Lily, he held her face in his hands so she'd looked at him, "is that true?" Lily bit her bottom lip.

"Yes-"

"Then why did you tell me?!" He shouted at her.

"Because everyday I saw you wake up with that rain cloud over you; with the guilt that you'd murdered your best friend!" She shouted back, "when you didn't even know it was actually the person in the bed right next to you that was responsible!" Lily blinked away tears, "I couldn't stand to see you miserable," they laughed.

"So by revealing you're my shadow and separating us, you don't think that will make me miserable?" He asked and she sighed.

"When you're taking lives for a living you kind of learn to forget how other people are feeling." Alex nodded as she spoke; he understood what she meant. It was just a job but it meat sacrificing a lot.

"Taking lives?" Hex said uncertainly.

"People who were a threat to Alex need to be…taken out." Amnias explained.

"Oh," Hex said, mildly impressed.

"It's nothing to be proud of." Alex whispered to him.

"We'll talk later." Lily said quickly before turning to Amnias. "Right now we have to save the others. In all the time we've been talking water's already seeped in." Indeed when Alex looked down water reached his ankles, he hadn't even noticed.

"That reminds me." Amnias got back to his usual crazy self as he smiled at them all and began to walk away. "The first detonation is in about," he checked his watch, "thirty seconds." His men jumped onto the stage and followed him as he ran to the door Lily came through. "Here!" He threw the key to Lily but Alex grabbed it before she could, "It's the key to that door," he pointed at the one Hex came through. "Have fun!" He shouted and into the darkness he and his men were gone. Everyone stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Did he say thirty-" But Hex didn't get to finish his sentence for the entire wall to their right collapsed in a heap of rubble and dust. They all put their arms over their heads to shield their heads from the pieces of concrete that flew away from the small explosion that had caused massive damage to the wall and the walls around it. They shielded their ears for the sound of falling brick was so deafening it hurt their heads to listen to it. After a moment they all opened their eyes and ears once more. The building was slowly crumbling away and a fire was beginning to consume the wreckage. They all looked over to the broken wall in shock and stood, paralysed as the sound of the huge crash fell to silence. All they could hear was their own breathing, heavy and irregular from shock. But then another sound came, one that made the hair on the back of their neck stood up. They all watched in horror as a huge wall of water came forth from behind the wreckage.

* * *

_**THERE WERE NEVER ANY COOKIES ALEX!**_

**Why can't he just accept it?!**


	16. The Devil's Backbone

**Thank you so much to Be-nice-to-nerds for pointing out the ridiculously crazy storyline that this story has. Here's a tip for anyone writing: plan your stories…actually I'm probably the only person who doesn't, so everyone- keep up the good work! Valentine? PLAN YOUR STORIES!**

**Also, I just re-read the previous chapter and confused myself so I've made a little map of where everyone is so you can know who they're going to save first.**

**Alex, **

**River----********Paulo,-----********Amber -----******** Li-----******** Eva,-----******** FREEDOM**

**Hex,-------******** Matt **

**Lily**

**That is the best darn map ever! So they're going to save Amber, then Li then Eva.

* * *

  
**

"Is anyone else trying to move?" Hex whispered and slowly everyone nodded. The wall of water was catching up to them fast.

"Alex?" Lily whispered but no one took their eye off the sight in front of them.

"Huh?" He whispered back.

"Open the door!" She shouted and turned to them; her actions seemed to wake everyone up and they gathered themselves up before running to the door. Lily stumbled and fell to the floor; the water was rising against the huge pile of rubble the wall had left behind. "Damn." She muttered and proceeded to remove the ridiculously high heels that Amnias had bought her to wear after handing her gun to Hex.

"Why _are _you dressed like that anyway?" Paulo asked conversationally as Hex and Alex tried desperately behind them to open the door.

"Amnias made me dress up for dinner." As she said this Hex and Alex both looked round to her; they hadn't noticed the dark purple dress she was wearing, the jewellery or the hair and make-up until she had said that. They also noticed the fact that the water had risen over the rubble and was even pushing through the solid wall of concrete.

"What a nice guy." Hex said sarcastically as they pushed the door open and ran through with Alex, Paulo and Lily followed after. They found themselves in a room identical to the one they'd come from. They stopped; taking a moment to catch their breath and clear their heads. They turned to Lily as they saw her move, she lifted her dress up to reveal her thigh and she grabbed a knife that was secured there.

"Ahem," Alex coughed pointedly for two reasons; a) Lily needed to hurry up and b) Paulo should stop staring. Lily proceeded to cut her dress; it was up to her ankles but she couldn't run so shortened it by cutting it off near her knees. "This wall is going to blow any second!" Hex shouted urgently and Lily nodded before replacing the knife and they continued running. The sound of water was overwhelming; it sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once but right now it had only seeped through and up to their ankles.

"Who we going for first?" Paulo asked, trying desperately to remember.

"Amber," Alex answered as they ran, trying to find their way through the half lit darkness; they could just about make out the broken mirrors, damp furniture and portraits. Suddenly Alex turned around and Lily almost ran into him.

"My third mission in Hungary?" Lily nodded, "you know that girl that picked me up?" Lily nodded again; of course she remembered, she'd organised for him to be picked up. "I spent two nights with her!" He shouted at her and she was so surprised by his action and words that she just nodded her head.

"Err…guys?" Paulo said as he and Hex waited on the edge of Alex and Lily's conversation; the water had risen almost to their knees and the wall could explode any second. Alex was looking at Lily as though he expected her to say something so she thought about what to say.

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?" Lily whispered and Alex nodded before looking down. "Thank you." She said and put a hand on his neck before resting her forehead against hers.

"Guys?" Hex said a little more urgently; the water was seeping in through the ceiling too; it was beginning to rain indoors!

"No more lies?" Alex asked and it was strange, even though the sound of water was deafening and Hex and Paulo's shouts of encouragement to move were growing louder, Lily found she could only hear Alex's voice.

"No more." She agreed and Alex kissed her quickly.

"Let's move." Alex said to the other two who nodded before they moved off again. They'd barely reached the other side before the wall behind them collapsed. They instinctively threw themselves to the floor and fell into the water. After a few wasted seconds Hex emerged and looked across to the wall; the fire was moving faster than water now. The other three stood up and now both drops of water and confetti-like embers were showering them. They were right next to the door and this time it was a wooden one. Paulo kicked it open and they all ran through. Lily was last and managed to stop herself running into Hex as she heard Paulo's yell. They had all stopped in a straight line

"What's the…" Lily looked ahead and down; there was nothing but darkness. This room had no floor; they were stood on a meter width of wooden edging.

"Amber!" Hex shouted and they looked across to see, on the opposite side of the room Amber was stood on the edging that ran across all the walls of the room. "Walk carefully!" Hex called to Paulo and Alex as they had begun to take the route along the edging on the walls; the wood was old and damp, it would most likely fall if they all ran across it. Paulo, leading the group, walked as fast as he dared; he was all too aware of the water, fire, creaking wood and impending darkness beneath them. "Hey guys!" Paulo shouted over his shoulder.

"Yeah?" He heard them all call.

"Who else has the _Indiana Jones _theme song in their head?" Lily just stared ahead in wonderment at Paulo's cool attitude towards all of this. Hex shrugged as he looked around to see Lily's questioning look and Alex shook his head.

"Sorry mate," Alex called to him; finally realising what Paulo was trying to do, "I've got the James Bond theme in my head." He said and everyone laughed despite their predicament. Paulo was using the old fashioned trick of: if you're doing a practical that seems really difficult it'll get worse if you think about it so try not to.

"Batman," Hex joined in their conversation.

"Lily?" Paulo asked her what was in her head because she hadn't spoken; indeed when he glanced back she was looking down with a horrified expression.

"Yes?" She said shakily.

"What song is in your head?"

"I…" She wasn't replying, she was thinking too hard; the more you thought, the more worried you became until you eventually-

"Lily, don't stop!" He heard Hex yell, "you practically do this for a living-"

"There is no situation in real life that is this insane!" Lily snapped back as the wood creaked beneath her.

"Lily!" Amber shouted urgently, she wasn't that far away now but Lily wasn't looking, she stared determinedly into the darkness beneath her. Lily wasn't scared of the dark but falling into nothingness freaked the heck out of her.

"Alex?" Hex called to him.

"Yeah?" Alex had turned and was coming back anyway. He saw the look on Hex's face and sighed.

"She's your wife!" He said seriously and put his hands up to show he meant no harm. It took at least seven seconds for them to pass each other. Alex reached Lily who was still looking down.

"We're going to move." He said slowly and was all too aware that water had begun to pour in through the door. The water wasn't such a problem anymore though; it was the wall collapsing that was the problem. Lily shook her head. "First day we met, what song was playing in the café near by?" He asked and Lily looked up; taken by surprise at the question. Alex took a hold of her hands and took a step backwards, causing Lily to move forwards without realising.

"Mondo Bongo," she said, keeping her eyes fixed on his now.

"How did it go?" He asked and his eyes constantly kept flicking back to the wall.

"I was patrolling a Pachinko," Lily whispered, "Nude noodle model parlour in the Nefarious zone." Alex nodded and kept her moving, they were so close to the end. "Hanging out with insects under ducting, the C.I.A was on the phone."

"Alex," Paulo called to him but Alex couldn't afford to listen.

"Remember Lily?" Alex had to get her attention again as Paulo's shout had caused her to look down again. "Latino caribo, mondo bongo, the flower looks good in your hair." He said and Lily looked up at him.

"You can stop attempting to sing." She said with a smirk as she let go of his hands and walked past him. Alex turned around in confusion to see everyone right next to him. Lily and Amber embraced.

"Get me the fuck out of here." Amber said with a shake of her head as Alex approached and embraced her. "What the hell happened to you guys?" She whispered to him.

"We'll talk-"

"We all seem to be forgetting that-" The wall came down and they put their hands over their heads. Once it had fallen they all looked back at it, "that will happen." Hex finished his sentence.

"Ha!" Amber shouted as she saw the water was simply falling into the void below them; there was no way they could drown. But the smile on her face fell as they realised that when the wall had given way it had taken some of the wooden walkway with it and now, as the rubble fell with the water, it was pulling the wood away from the walls on both sides. Paulo was reminded of an incident he'd gone through a few years ago when he'd witnessed skin being ripped from someone's arm; it was the same thing. "Wait," Amber said, "if that's falling and we're stood…" they looked down and then to the walls; the edging would rip away with them on it.

"Why do we waste so much time enjoying the scenery?" Hex shouted at them and kicked the door open.

"At least this has a floor!" Paulo shouted and walked in, "hello Li!" He said quickly, picked her up from the middle of the floor and just kept running.

"Hey!" Li protested but then saw everyone else running.

"Hi!" They all said but kept running. She glanced behind them and gasped as she saw the massacre in the next room. "What the hell did you do Paulo?!" She shouted to him and the others grinned.

"Nothing!" He protested and put her down, by the door. "Alex do you have the key?" He asked and everyone had caught up and were now catching their breath. Alex looked up with an open mouth.

"I…lost it in the water!" He said and ran a hand through his hair.

"Damn," Paulo muttered. "Oh well," he said and proceeded to pull the, this time made of metal bars, door out of the wall. Hex and Alex shrugged before going to help them. The girls had a quick reunion before the door was ripped from the wall. They all peered in to see a corridor. There were naked bulbs, barely lighting the place, swinging from the ceiling.

"They're swinging." Hex observed.

"No shit, Sherlock." Amber replied and Hex looked over to her with a bored face.

"And to think I missed you." He muttered.

"That was a British reference," Amber explained, "you hate my American saying-"

"Americans _have _sayings?" Li interjected.

"You always say British colloquialisms are cooler." Amber said and folded her arms haughtily.

"How did these two make it work and not us?!" Paulo shouted at Li but pointed at Hex and Amber.

"Guys I think we should-"

"Maybe for a lot of reasons!" Li shouted over Alex and Lily took a step forwards.

"LOOK!" She shouted at them all, "WE'VE ALL GOT ISSUES- BUT RIGHT NOW WE NEED TO RUN!" But everyone was already running.

"Lily you sure are scary when angry!" Li called back to her.

"You should try working with her." Alex said and only Hex, Paulo and Lily laughed.

"What?" Amber asked before Lily stopped the whole group by holding up her arm.

"Oh yeah, we'll have to tell you…" but Alex's voice trailed away as Lily opened the door. It was dimly lit too like the hall but had an eerie green tinge to the walls, there were a few tables with broken, discarded bottles and as everyone approached with caution they saw that the green tinge was given by around 15 computer screens with numbers scrolling across them. And stood in front of the screens was Matt, holding Eva. Everyone walked in slowly, trying to keep in mind that there was a time limit on how long they could spend in here. Without hesitation Lily walked over to Matt who was evidently surprised they were all here. She removed the knife from it's strap on her thigh and put a hand on Matt's arm before pushing him back into the wall. He held on tighter to Eva.

"Mama!" Eva shouted before looking around, "daddy!" She smiled and waved. "Amur!" Amber saluted her.

"Give her to me," Lily said as Matt's back hit the wall. She put the knife against his throat and within a second everyone could see a small streak of Matt's blood appear behind the blade.

"Lily!" Amber and Li screamed; the only ones surprised she was capable of acting like this. But then something happened no one was really expecting-

"HEX!" Amber screamed for Hex had cocked the gun Lily had handed to him earlier and put it to her head.

"ALEX!" They all shouted as Alex took a broken bottle from a nearby table and moved to hold the sharp glass against Hex's neck.

"What the hell is going on?!" Li shouted at them but no one was really listening.

"So," Lily whispered and moved closer to Matt, "who's got the guts to go first?" she asked but Matt was staring past her at Hex; did he care that much, he'd let one of his best friends kill him?

* * *

**Oh dear. Not good. If no one got the predicament at the end here's another little diagram:**

**Alex (bottle)--******** Hex (gun) -******** Lily (knife) -******** Matt (Eva…who is not a weapon)**

**You can tell I've actually been revising this year- all the diagrams!**

**Yay for mind-maps: they RULE.**

**Oh and MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or else I'd have forgotten XP**


	17. Slick Triggerfinger

Hullo everyone! How were your Christmases? Well, the quote for this year's Christmas:

"Name some English kings!

"_**ELIZABETH!"

* * *

**_"This is insane!" Li shouted at them but no one was listening. Eva was looking from one person to another but they noticed she was pretty comfortable in Matt's arms. Lily was losing patience; she could hear the water closing in around them, they needed to get out fast.

"Hex!" Amber shouted again seeing as no one was moving.

"This is between you and your brother," Lily said quietly and so suddenly that Matt's eyes snapped over to her instantly. "Give Eva to me," she lowered her knife from his throat and put it back. Matt just stared at her and everyone who had ever met Lily when she'd had a knife to their throat they'd tell you not to keep her waiting. Matt looked to Eva who reached out a hand to his neck and wiped away the blood, she nodded her head at him even thought she had no idea what was happening. Slowly Hex and Alex lowered their weapons as Matt handed Eva to her mother. "Thank you," Lily said and as she took Eva the girl almost instantly fell asleep. Lily put a hand to Matt's face and sighed before leaning forwards and kissing his cheek. She walked away and Alex moved to her before stepping protectively in front of them both. Hex and Matt stood opposite each other, Hex looking at his younger brother with a mixture of confusion and sadness, Matt glared determinedly back with a mixture of confusion and hate.

"What-"

"Don't." Matt interrupted his brother, "don't even try." He didn't want Hex to have a chance of redemption; "you've lost the right to my forgiveness."

"Matt!" Hex said desperately, "I know what I did to you was…" he tried to think of a word.

"Shameless?" Matt suggested, "cowardly, selfish?!" He shouted at him. "You never came back!"

"It was too much to deal with-"

"WE ALL DEALT WITH IT!" Matt finally lost it, all the hate and anger he'd felt for his brother for the past few years was finally showing. "MUM AND I DEALT WITH IT! WE LOST TWO OF YOU!" Hot and angry tears streamed from Matt's eyes and he wiped them away impatiently.

"What happened?" Amber asked Hex and he sighed.

"Years ago," Hex began without looking at her, without looking at anyone, "my dad died." No one had ever heard Hex talk in such a tone of melancholy that it scared them a little. "I couldn't," Hex's voice broke, "I couldn't deal with it- I wasn't ready to accept it!" His hand brushed over his eyes and Amber went to him but he held out a hand to stop her, "I'm no hero Amber-"

"He's a coward," Matt muttered and to everyone's surprise, Hex nodded.

"Worse than that." Hex took a deep breath, "I left home. Said I was going out for…" He couldn't remember.

"A book you left at school." Matt said suddenly, "A history book, you'd left it in your locker." Hex looked at his brother for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he had to wipe his eyes again. "Is it sad?" Matt asked him, "is it sad that I remember where my big brother was going? I might've been a teenager but I was still young." Matt shook his head, "I NEEDED YOU. WE ALL DID!" He screamed and Hex shook his head.

"I'm sorry," Hex said quickly, "I don't know what else to say."

"Matt," Paulo said and took a step forwards, "Hex was willing to kill Lily for you." Matt looked over to Lily who for some reason smiled at him; she always managed to see the truth of a situation; she could tell what people were really feeling. She'd claimed it was just something you learn as you get older and right now he knew what she meant. He knew exactly how Hex felt.

"How can you make up for eight years?" Matt asked his brother.

"I can't," Hex shrugged, "I don't think I can. But I can make the rest of the years worth something." Matt looked at his brother.

"You're coming home?" Matt's bottom lip trembled and Hex rubbed the back of his neck.

"If you'll have me." Matt nodded suddenly and embraced his brother. "You've got to get out of this game." Hex whispered to his brother.

"I know. I'm sorry." Matt whispered back.

"Ahem," Li said pointedly and Matt and Hex looked round at her, "my feet are getting wet." She said and everyone looked down; the water was in the room already.

"Ok," Matt said and began turning the computer screens off. Hex's eyes scanned the numbers on the screen quickly before nodding. "I know the way out." Matt said to them and when he turned back he saw everyone was prepared to follow him.

"Matt," Hex called and he looked to his brother, "the screens indicate the doors are going to shut automatically-"

"It'll be fine." He said and looked at Lily. "Thank you."

"No problem, kid." She said and everyone looked from one to another, wondering what they were talking about. Matt nodded again and walked out of the room. Eva, who was drifting in and out of sleep realised it was the first time in a long time since she'd seen her parents together, she smiled up at them both even though they weren't aware she was awake. Matt began to pick up the pace and in an instant everyone was running down the corridor.

"The doors were going to shut," Amber said ominously.

"Yeah," Paulo said, "that freak was going to lock us in anyway." He said darkly and everyone shook their heads; their hate for Amnias intensified over a matter of three seconds.

"Don't worry," Matt shouted back, "we'll be out of here before they do." He said and turned a corner sharply before stopping. Everyone almost fell into each other as they looked around the deserted, dark and damp space around them. Alex saw it first.

"The ladder!" He exclaimed and Matt saw it for the first time; it was so dimly lit that the aged metal was difficult to see.

"Alright, everyone up." Matt said to them and everyone made room for Lily and Eva to go first.

"I don't think," Lily began.

"I'll take her," Li said, reading Lily's mind; Lily was uncertain if she could get up the ladder in her dress and with Eva. Li was probably the best to attempt it. Eva, who was awake now completely looked around to her father.

"Daddy," she said quietly and from the folds of her dress took what looked like a small black box and handed it to him. He didn't look at the object but smiled at it and put it in his pocket.

"Thanks," he said and kissed her forehead. Li proceeded to take Eva from her mother and proceeded to climb the ladder.

"It'll open up at the top to an alleyway," Matt said, "wait there for us all," Li nodded and disappeared into the darkness. Amber followed, then Paulo and then Hex. Hex was half way up the ladder before they heard the gunshot. Everyone turned instinctively to the source but registered a second later that Matt was on the floor, clutching his chest and staining the already dark floor, red.

"Matt!" Hex shouted and jumped down to his brother, turning him over and shouting up the ladder; "PUALO!" He screamed as Alex and Lily took a step in front of him and his brother as Amnias walked forwards. Neither of them was armed; Lily could take out the knife but what use was that against a gun? Amnias looked at Hex and Matt and laughed so loud it echoed down the corridor.

"That's what you get for double-crossing me!" He shouted at Matt but Lily put her hands up into a fighting stance to stop him getting closer. "Are you quite taken by the kid?" He asked with a sick smile; Lily didn't think answering him was worth anything so kept quiet. "Shame; he'll be dead now- MAKE ONE MOVE AND I'LL PUMP LEAD INTO YOUR STOMACH!" He shouted at Hex who had moved to the ladder to get Paulo but stopped as Amnias said this. "Now, you're going first," he said to Lily and pointed the gun back at her.

"Brad," she said smoothly, "I assume it's too late for an apology-"

"YOU ASSUME CORRECTLY," he screamed at her before putting a hand to his mouth to stop himself shouting.

"I beg you, on behalf of my daughter-"

"Bitch." Amnias said to her with a slight laugh, "you can stop right there. You think parading your daughter around in front of me is going to evoke sympathy?" Lily lowered her gaze; she was out of ideas, "you are sadly mistaken." Alex looked up; there seemed to be a metal bar above them in the ceiling; no, it was the bottom of a door. A door that was lowered from the ceiling. YOU OWE ME!" He was shouting again and Alex jumped, "look what you've done- I'm shouting again! You ruined me three years ago and not a God damned, fucking thing you've done in the subsequent three years is going to change that. OK?!" Lily nodded. There was a number on the metal; G3. He thought back: where had he seen that. "Ok, I won't kill you by bullets," Amnias said, "I'm going to lock you in here so you can drown together. You and Alex and Hex and the near dead Matt. Awwwwwww…see I'm nice." He put a hand in his pocket but the smile faded from his face. "I have a remote control," he said and clicked his tongue impatiently and went to check another pocket. _Remote control? _Alex thought, he'd seen one before. "It locks the doors," Amnias said impatiently and checked his jacket pockets. He was distracted now; Alex and Lily exchanged a glance before nodding. In a flash Lily moved forwards and kicked the gun out of Amnias' hand, Alex retrieved the small black box Eva had given him and in the darkness searched for a button labelled G3. Amnias was so surprised he had stumbled backwards because of the force Lily had used but before he had time she picked up the gun and pointed it at him.

"Got it!" Alex said and pushed the button. Amnias stared in disbelief at them both and watched in horror as the door began to shut. He ran forwards but another gunshot echoed through the corridor as Lily pulled the trigger. Amnias stopped and stood up right, his eyes trying to focus on Lily. Alex was impressed; her shot had hit his heart exactly. Lily was too used to seeing death to cry, to feel much, but a small part of her felt the hurt of the loss of someone she once loved. Amnias smiled slightly at her and put a hand to the growing red mark on his shirt.

"You always were," he whispered to her, "another slick trigger-finger." He said before falling to his knees. The last they saw of him as the door closed was the small smile on his face as he looked at Lily; remembering who he used to be. The door closed; Amnias was dead, they heard him collapse. Hex went up the ladder instantly and Lily and Alex went to Matt's side. Alex saw the pale skin of the boy; he wasn't breathing. He checked Matt's pulse. Nothing.

"He's gone," Alex said and Lily nodded. He put an arm around her but was surprised when she shrugged him off. Hex and Paulo came down the ladder. "Hex," Alex began but the man pushed him and Lily away from his kid brother. Paulo just had to look and he already knew.

"Paulo," Hex beckoned him and Paulo grudgingly moved down to Matt's side.

"Hex," Alex tried again, "he's gone-"

"SHUT UP ALEX." Hex shouted but was immediately silent, "Just…please." Hex muttered but Paulo put a hand on his shoulder, "no…no,no." Hex simply repeated the word as he embraced the dead figure of his brother. Everyone looked away as though intruding on something private. "I can't lose anyone else!" Hex shouted into Matt's hair. "I can't go through that again-"

"You have Amber with you all the time now," Lily said consolingly. "She's there for you-"

"We're all here for you, mate." Alex said and Hex nodded before letting go of his brother. "We have to go," Alex said, "we'll call the police to…pick up the bodies-"

"_bodies?" _Paulo asked and there was a quick story of what happened to Amnias.

"Forget the police," Lily said, "this is a problem to be addressed by the British Government." She said and Alex nodded.

"Let's go." Paulo said and almost had to lead Hex to the ladder. The four of them emerged in the alleyway a minute or two later, where they saw Amber and Li waiting in the…sunlight? They all looked around, the sun was just rising.

"Matt…?" Amber began but saw Hex's face and shook her head in horror. Again, a quick catch up of what had happened underground and everyone stood in silence.

"Let's go home." Alex said, "together." Everyone nodded and Alpha Force, Lily and Eva, stood in the first streaks of sunlight.

"Yeah," Amber said, "I really need some coffee." They all smiled with a sense of relief; they were going home. The nightmare was over.

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**OK, i know it seems like the end but there's one more chapter to wrap things up- should be up tomorrow!**

**Reviews appreciated!**


	18. Welcome Back

**Well...here's the last chapter...sniff, sniff...oh it's so sad the adventure's over!**

* * *

_-A few hours later-_

"That was a good sleep!" Paulo said as they all walked back into Alex and Lily's villa in Spain.

"I didn't know your government cared so much for you Alex." Amber said with a smile as she walked in after Paulo. Alex had made a few phone calls in Venice and in at least an hour the British government had sent a plane for them. "Alex?" Amber asked and looked around from the doorway. "Oh," Alex and Lily were stood by the car that contained a government official.

"Must be Alex's boss." Paulo said quietly as he went to Eva's room to put her into her bed. Everyone nodded; in the plane everyone had recounted their stories quickly before going to sleep. Amber looked out to Alex and Lily, wondering what was going to happen to them. She shook her head and walked into the house.

At the car Lily and Alex looked at their superior; a black man, ageing bur with such charisma and spirit they were sure he lied about his age, it was almost as if he wore a disguise. He worked everyday with Alex and had quickly had him promoted because he recognised the talent. But for some reason he was closer to Lily even though he only spoke to her everyday but hardly saw her. He was almost a father figure to her and over time he'd watched with growing anxiety as they'd fallen for each other.

"You know," Milton began, "I interviewed you two," as he sat in the car he looked at them both with genuine grief. "You were kids then; youngest and brightest of your field." He sighed "I knew you were trouble too!" He laughed and Alex and Lily smirked. "You know Lily you were so smart but in that sarcastic annoying way that pissed the hell out of Marx," Lily rolled her eyes; she hated Marx, both the sociologist and the guy she had to work with most of the time. "What was he said when you refused to answer the question-"

"He told me _it would be wise to play ball_."

"And you said-"

"_You think I'm tall enough_?" Alex smiled; he knew that everyone in his work place acted different at home so this was a side to Lily he'd never seen before.

"Bloody cheek!" Milton laughed and his old eyes, hidden by the darkness of his sunglasses, appraised Alex. "Shame things should end up this way-"

"Is it true," Alex asked; he didn't mean to be rude and interrupt but he needed to know, "that we can't stay together?" Alex put an arm around Lily and Milton nodded.

"God," Lily said and rubbed her eyes. "Milton-"

"Don't look at me like that Lily," the old man said, "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do." He looked away from them both. "You're still kids to me," he said suddenly, "you had Eva quite young-"

"I was 21."

"That's still young." Milton said and looked out onto the red flowers growing along the wall nearby. "But in this job you're forced to grow up." Milton pushed his sunglasses up his nose and looked to Alex. "Alex?" The blonde looked at him with that familiar, serious stare, "do you have nothing to say?" Alex thought for a moment.

"I'll hand in a letter of resignation." At this there were cries of protest from both Lily and Milton, but Lily was quite instantly as Milton was her superior.

"No you will not," he said strictly, "you're the bloody best we've got-"

"I'm sorry," Alex said, "but if it's the only way we can stay together then I'm going to have to." Milton shook his head.

"I take it back, you haven't matured at all," Alex and Lily smirked; even though Milton was angry it was their naivety and youth he admired them for. He could never be properly angry at them. "Lily?" He asked her opinion.

"I resign." She said stubbornly and Milton shook his head.

"This is ridiculous-"

"Not really," Lily said, "I want to spend more time with Eva anyway so I was planning on resigning." Milton gasped dramatically and Lily rolled her eyes with a smile. He looked at them both.

"Expect a phone call from me in three days." He said before telling his driver to take him to the airport. Lily and Alex took a step away from the car and saluted at him mockingly as he shut the door to the car and it reversed out of their driveway. They stood and watched the car as it drove off. Alex took Lily's hand.

"I guess I better make some tea." She said and Alex laughed; Lily had this strange technique of simply brushing important matters under the carpet by having tea and cake. What was even stranger is that it worked. Alex held her back as she tried to walk away. "What?"

"They can't break us." He reassured her and she giggled.

"Over the years I've been shot three times, broken my left arm and both my wrists, my legs have been burnt, I've almost choked to death and I can't feel anything in this thumb," she held her right hand up for him to see. "Nothing can break me." She said sternly, "you, on the other hand, might need some help." She walked away from him, Alex laughed and ran into the house after her.

"I'm going to have a shower." He said to her and as he walked to the bathroom Hex came out and he stopped. "Hey, man." Hex looked up at him with a faint smile, "you OK?" Of course Hex said:

"I'm fine." But no one ever is fine after a few hours are they? Alex nodded and patted Hex on the back as he walked into his and Amber's room. Alex went into the bathroom.

In the kitchen Lily had made tea and was thinking about what Milton had said; a phone call in three days. She knew the man well and even though he'd acted like he didn't care, he was the one person in the world who would try and help her. He had to; she couldn't quite imagine what life would be her family fell apart again. She almost dropped the kettle when Alex ran in with a shout.

"I love you!" He shouted at her and instead of being happy she was scared as he embraced her.

"I love you too!" She choked as he was almost strangling her.

"What's going on?" Li asked as everyone walked into the kitchen and raised an eyebrow at Alex's actions. He turned to them and held up a small white stick.

"We're having another baby!" He said happily.

"Oh, hell no," Lily said and everyone laughed as she pulled his hand down to see the stick; indeed the two blue plus signs were there. "That's not mine." She said, "it said negative-"

"Maybe it-"

"No Alex," she said, "it doesn't just change its mind." Alex's face saddened.

"What do you mean _hell no_?" he asked and she ignored him.

"So if it's not me," she said and looked up to Li who shook her head and then everyone looked over to Amber and Hex.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Amber said quickly and ran from the room. Hex stood in stunned silence as everyone congratulated him and hugged him. Only Alex and Lily were able to laugh at his predicament.

"Good luck mate," Alex said and patted his shoulder. "Maybe you should talk to Amber?" Alex suggested to Lily and she shook her head.

"What, and scare the hell out of her?" She smiled at Hex. "Congratulations; you're going to make a great dad." For the first time since holding his brother, Hex smiled. "You're going to make them both proud." Everyone nodded at him, Amber walked back in. "Come on," Lily said to her, "you're going to have to eat all this healthy rubbish because you've had a few rough days." She said and Amber nodded. Amber took a deep breath and looked to Hex.

"Oh my God." She said suddenly and Hex embraced her. "I'm going to be a mum," she said and Hex kissed her. "You're going to be a dad!" She cried and Hex had never seen her so happy that all his worries were gone. Sure he'd lost someone, someone he had hardly had time with to make it up to. But now it was almost as if he was given another chance; he'd lost a part of his family but slowly his own one was growing.

* * *

_-That evening-_

Li sat outside on the balcony to her room and she sighed as she saw a shadow slink across the stone floor towards her. Paulo put an arm around her and for once she didn't protest. She sighed as he held her hand and they both lowered their heads to listen to what the other had to say.

"I'm sorry." Paulo said quickly, "I know it's just two words, words that are difficult to put just how sorry you are into them. But if you asked me to prove how guilty I feel for leaving you like that by…" he though of a punishment or task, "asking for the moon. I'd give it." Li laughed.

"That's impossible." She said.

"I'd do it!" He said and sounded so sure of himself that she shook her head.

"I will forgive you," she said quickly, "if you forgive me?" She gasped for she had started to cry, Paulo wiped tears from her cheek.

"Deal."

* * *

_-Three days later-_

"Alright!" Lily shouted and both Alex and Eva, who were watching TV but practically falling asleep, jumped and turned to Lily who stood with her hands on her hips. "It's time." She said dramatically and Eva gasped with excitement as Alex picked her up and put her over his shoulder as he followed Lily to the kitchen. Everyone had left that morning, Alex and Lily had insisted they stayed for a few more days, and now it was just the three of them enjoying what time they had left together.

Alex and Eva took seats at the breakfast table and breathed in the sweet aroma that flooded the kitchen. Lily had her back to them for a moment and turned around with a plate of cookies in her hands. She placed it in front of them and stood back with an anxious look on her face. Eva and Alex took cookies at the same time and bit into them together. "So?" Lily asked after a moment and Alex looked up to her; she looked so worried that he just didn't have it in him to upset her.

"Awesome!" He said encouragingly and they both looked to Eva.

"Eww!" She said and spat out the cookie into her hand. Lily raised an eyebrow at Alex who shrugged as though he couldn't understand Eva's reaction. Lily shook her head and picked Eva up, took her to the sink and washed her hands.

"At least one of you is truthful." Lily muttered as she dried Eva's hands.

"Alright, bedtime." Alex said and took Eva from Lily after giving her an apologetic look. Lily stood for a moment at the sink as she watched them walk away. It had been three days. Tonight they were meant to get the phone call. It had been a stressful few days for everyone; Hex had phoned his mother the day Matt died and explained what had happened. Hex thought she'd hate him but it was quite the opposite; she was overwhelmed with happiness just to hear from him. Paulo and Li hadn't told anyone the full story but no one needed to know because it was clear from the moment they met all those years ago they really cared for each other. Lily had noticed something that Hex, Amber, Paulo and Li had done over the past day or so; they'd let go of the past. But with Alex and lily it seemed too difficult, too complicated- she jumped as the phone rang. Alex walked quickly to the kitchen and entered as Lily was removing her apron, he went to the table the phone was on and looked at her once more.

"You ready for this?" He asked and she nodded.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Alex pressed a button on the phone to put it to loudspeaker.

"Hello?" They heard Milton's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hey," they both said.

"I trust only Lily and Alex are on the other side?" He asked and they smiled.

"Yes," Alex confirmed, "and I trust there are only a good thirty people on your end?" Milton laughed.

"Indeed." He said before returning to is business-like tone. "I have spoken with the powers that needed to be contacted and a decision has been reached." Lily took Alex's hand and lowered her head as though waiting for something to hurt her. "They have requested that if you wish to stay in your positions then you must separate immediately. If you wish to stay together then you must resign from your posts." Neither knew what to say; they'd talked about resigning but Lily refused to let Alex leave work for many reasons. Firstly, if they both resigned they'd have no income which didn't help considering Eva would be starting in a private school in just a few years and because she knew he loved it. At first Alex had protested but he'd had to agree that for these reasons it was stupid to resign. Milton had paused as though waiting for the outcry but there was nothing; perhaps they had seriously thought about this. "I'm sorry kids," Milton said finally, "goodbye." Alex and Lily remained silent. Alex pressed the button to terminate the call.

"Well," Lily sighed, "I guess I'll leave-"

"Lily," Alex called after her as she walked to their room. He chased her down the corridor and closed the door to their bedroom quietly so Eva wouldn't wake up. He watched uncertainly as she walked to her cupboard and Alex raised an eyebrow as she took out an already packed bag.

"In case I had to get out of the house for you." She explained as she saw his look.

"Lily, where-"

"_Please,_" she warned him, "don't ask me where I'm going…because I don't know." She stopped and rubbed her eyes, something she did when near tears but Alex hadn't seen her cry in a long while.

"Well you better tell me, because I'm coming with you." He said seriously.

"What?" She turned to him.

"Not the bravest thing to do; running away-"

"I'm not running away!"

"Then stay!" Alex shook his head at her as though he couldn't understand what she was doing. He went to her and brushed an unruly lock of hair from her neck, "stay with me." He said to her and leant in- their heads bumped as they jumped from the sound of the telephone ringing.

"Who would that be?" Lily asked quietly as they walked back into the kitchen. Alex picked up the phone-

"Alex?" It was Milton's voice. He mouthed the word _Milton, _to Lily who looked as surprised as Alex felt.

"Yes?" He said.

"I've got an idea…" Five minutes later Lily and Alex were smiling. Alex put down the phone and embraced her.

"So that means…?" Lily asked and Alex laughed.

"Life's good," Alex said to her and kissed her, "damn good." They laughed but stopped almost immediately as the phone rang. "They're never going to let us-"

"I recognise that number." Lily muttered as she picked up the phone. "Hello? Paulo, how are you? Yeah, we're fi…WHAT?!" Lily shouted ecstatically and Alex shushed her but she was too excited. "That's brilliant!" She cried, "definitely! Alex and I have some news too." And so, in the space of five minutes, Alex, Lily's, Paulo's, Li's, Hex and Amber's futures went from a realm of terrifying uncertainty to something that was a mixture of both their pasts and something new and exciting.

* * *

_-1 year later-_

"That's my baby!" Lily said with a smile and hit Alex's chest to get his attention.

"Yeah she's partly mine as well."

"Oh hush!" She said as she watched with pride as Eva sat in her pretty bridesmaid's dress on the steps of the hotel's garden. "Here's the brief by the way," she said and handed him a mobile phone. He went to messages and read the new message before deleting it. "Car's will pick you up from Heathrow at seven tomorrow morning-"

"But they're going on their honeymoon-"

"That's why the mission is set there." Lily said happily and Alex laughed.

"Ouch," he said, "that wasn't very nice of you-"

"It wasn't me!" She protested.

"Aunty Amber!" Eva called and got up from the step, ignoring the many protests from the camera man. She practically ran over to Hex who was walking with Amber across the grass and he picked her up so she could look at the little bundle in Amber's arms.

"Howdy strangers," Amber said to Lily and Alex who nodded to her and Hex.

"Hello, Matt." Lily said and peered into the blanket Amber was holding to see the three month old baby, comfortably asleep in his mother's arms.

"Is it your baby?" Eva asked Hex who nodded.

"Yep," Alex said, "definitely your child." He said to Lily who smirked.

"Any news?" Hex asked Lily quietly as Eva began talking at baby Matt hurriedly in a mixture of English, Spanish and baby talk.

"Yes," Lily said, "I'll be babysitting Matt for five days."

"While we go where?" Amber asked.

"Bahamas." Alex answered and it took a minute for Hex and Amber to say-

"Isn't that where-"

"Yeah, it is." Alex answered and they all started laughing. "We're all staying in this hotel tonight so it's straight from here to Heathrow in the morning.

"Where are the other two anyways?" Hex asked and his question was answered as Paulo and Li walked over to them.

"You know when someone invites you to their wedding it's nice to actually be a part of it." Li said with a smirk as Paulo kissed her neck.

"Yeah well if you two could keep your hands off each other for at least two minutes Lily could explain how we're crashing your honeymoon." Amber said and that got their attention as they looked at her with expressions of sheer terror.

"Lily!" Li squealed, "why would you do that-"

"Hey!" Lily said to them all. "When the world needs saving it doesn't wait until you're all ready to go-"

"Exactly!" A voice said and they all turned to see Milton walking across the grass to them. They all greeted him with that same, weary, arrogant, mocking and damned annoying salute Lily and Alex used to give. But he liked them all too much to care. "You should listen to Lily, she was twice the agent any of you are!" He said and she nodded at them before taking Matt from Amber and walked to Milton. Eva left Hex's embrace and walked to Milton's side, she looked up to him and took his hand. Milton, Eva, Lily and the sleeping baby stood opposite the group and smiled.

Alex, Li, Paulo, Hex and Amber were recruited just over a year ago to become what Milton referred to as "those annoyingly talented kids." They were the most advanced and specialist group the government had in the Ministry of Defence. Trained in all sorts of techniques; survival, "weapons etiquette" and saving the world.

Alpha Force was back.

**THE END**

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**Lol at the last line, it was so cheesy. But I wanted a nice- YAY- type of ending XD**

**Hope you all liked it!**

**Apologies for any mistakes and the general craziness of the whole fic!**

**Well this is the second AF fic I have completed! WOOHOO! PARTY! **

**Thanks for your reviews and support!**

**Valentine, QoH**


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